Advanced Modded 100% Achievements Guide

To begin with, this guide is built on the assumption that you already have your Stellaris executable ready to accept achievements with mods. You can refer to the following tutorial for instructions on how to properly set it up: How to enable Achievements with ANY mod. In a technical sense, my guide is a follow-up sequel so you don't null-void-beam yourself in the foot while trying to get any precious achievement.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2719382752

As a side note, I would also like to mention something that a good friend of mine told me. It seems that there are other PDX games that didn't allow achievements with mods before, but nowadays they do. If at one point that is integrated in Stellaris, that'd amazing!

I've always thought how odd it is when a sandbox-type game gatekeeps achievements unnecessarily, in Stellaris prior versions this was done by only allowing achievements in Ironman mode where you only had one save. Furthermore, older versions did not allow achievements in multiplayer because galaxies were not in Ironman mode. After v4.0 this has changed, Ironman mode is no longer required and multiplayer achievements are also allowed. During v4.0+ I finally got motivated for some achievement hunting since Stellaris appeared to be less restrictive in that regard. Unfortunately, mods continued restricting players who wanted achievements even after all these years and updates. Naturally, that was the final key missing for me. I needed mods. I needed multi-track mod-drifting!

Source: Ghuumi and Sok Adventures - Trolley Problem Source: Densha de D doujinshi[knowyourmeme.com]

Enjoy this beat while you read the guide and you might get some Shingo points in the process!

I've concentrated my efforts on replayability and fun during my achievement runs rather than optimizing my mod collection for maximum achievement hunting potential, this is because Stellaris achievements are not particularly challenging (unless you call RNG challenging), there is a total of 211 achievements and it takes some time to obtain them all. It took me around three months to go from zero to the most recent achievement (I left The End achievement for my last game, hah), I advise doing something similar or the same in order to not get burned out. Ultimately, whatever you do is your choice.

Talking about decisions, since I just threw a bunch of my favorite mods together for the hunt, I also know that it is possible to lock yourself out of an achievement if the game is drastically changed by some mods out there; if something becomes unachievable, sometimes it is not as easy as taking the conflicting mod out of the collection during a game, since it could be adding something that triggers with an event, overrides something critical, does permanent changes to the Galaxy and/or could break the save if taken out in the middle of a campaign. The only solution at that point would be to restart the run without the conflicting mod. That is another reason why I'm making this guide. By following my recommendations, you are probably not going to struggle as much as I did.

My advice during this section is going to be separated in three components: compatibility between mods, achievement conflicts and whether or not a mod is the G.O.A.T. 🐐 (Greatest Of All Time) for achievement hunting purposes.

IMPORTANT: As my first advice, make sure that you start your achievement runs during a season where you don't expect a lot of PDX patches. Keep in mind that Steam updates games and mods automatically, which means that some mods could break and/or the game's executable file could be reverted back to normal and it won't accept modded achievements anymore. IMPORTANT: Keep track of your Stellaris executable file last modified date at all times. If you forget to check it after an automatic official update and then save your game, the new save would not allow achievements anymore. If you notice the .exe was updated, just patch it by following this guide again. Reverting back to a previous save or edit the save file is possible, but why struggling?

Just like Tradition mods, having more options will inevitably make you pause your game sometimes to fully understand these new mechanics. Nevertheless, I'm fairly certain that you'll understand those concepts rather quickly. Also, these mods pair well with other mods, all you have to do is add a mod that gives you extra Tradition and Ascension Perk slots (please refer to the UI-only Mods section in this guide).

IMPORTANT: It is highly recommended that you pair any mod in this mod category with "! Sartek Tradition - Ascension Perk Merger" if you have more than one mod from this list.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2976573664

  I know this mod like the back of my hand, it has a lot of entertaining features and combinations. If I had to pick only one it would be the Artificial Procreation perk, which further buffs empires that go down the Biomorphosis path[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] with even more population growth. This mod is useful in general and highly recommended.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3350233419

  One feature from this mod that stands out the most for me is the extra starbase tech-building, which gives you around five research points in each research category (limited to one building per starbase) when you select the Technological Ascendancy[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk. Useful for any game.

  IMPORTANT: I recommend pairing this mod with the Better Traditions mod.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3099975582

  I know that Kroun is really big on balance. Yet, the warfare-related perks in this mod are bonkers and are quite versatile in tons of situations; one particular devastating combo is pairing Impenetrable Bulwark (Shield Ascension) with the Crisis from Post-Barionic Infusion.

  Be advised, similar to More Astral Actions, there is a second precursor chain that can be triggered by one Ascension Perk offered by this mod. Regretfully, it is possible that no Precursor achievements are earned from the second precursor chain this mod offers. This interaction is not 100% confirmed but it is highly likely this is the case, because the effect is similar to the one used in Kroun's More Astral Actions.

  IMPORTANT: Stick to one precursor chain per playthrough. Unless you want to experiment a bit. If so, please let me know what you find to update the guide accordingly.
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2909582424

  Obtaining an extra or multiple ascensions paths is always awesome, Just be mindful that not all interactions have been tested. In my experience, the only issue I had was the Clone Army origin could not get one of the genetics Tradition Trees after finishing the Biomorphosis situation. This was probably because I got Psionic first and something weird happened. Therefore my next advice is...

  IMPORTANT: Save your game before picking an extra Ascension Path (Not to be confused with Ascension Perks). Think about your achievement objectives for that hunt. If you are unsure if something could happen by getting another Ascension Path, just play it safe and only use one Ascension Path for that playthrough.

  IMPORTANT: I recommend pairing this mod with the ! Sartek TAP Merger - Ascension Path Fusion, which is right below in this list.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2979443893

  It offers an extra compatibility layer for Ascension Path mods (e.g. All Ascension Paths). Highly recommended.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2968793234 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  I recall my "142 ━ Destroy the People of Earth!" achievement playthrough against the United Nations of Earth. UNE spawned practically next to me while I was playing in a tiny galaxy, which was unfortunate because brain slugs often take several decades to trigger by begging the Shroudwalkers. I had to play with just three worlds until I received my second Ascension Perk and chose the one this mod offered because UNE unavoidably surrounded me and blocked borders. My scientists were no longer stranded thanks to the Jump Drive tech. I expanded beyond Earth's borders with my stored influence and eventually started chipping away at UNE. That day, the Commonwealth of Man came to the realization that... 🚬"Quantum problems require quantum solutions.". 🐐

  Anecdotes aside, this mod is ALWAYS useful: you can search for Leviathans, you can create the GalCom faster by contacting everyone or simply react faster during a war. Furthermore, skipping hyperdrives entirely doesn't conflict with "161 ━ The Path Not Taken" achievement and this also means your Eager Explorers[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] would be able to move normally between hyperlanes.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2786371128

  Keep in mind the AI doesn't use the "repeatable and stackable" Ascension Perks this mod offers. But, the mod also allows you to toggle this feature on/off at the start of any game. With that said, my favorite Ascension Perk upgrades from this mod are those that buff megastructure construction in general, which are particularly useful with any mods from the Megastructure section in this guide.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2787727603

  The mod author recently overhauled this mod and now it makes a lot of vanilla Ascension Perks more viable. Particularly, the Technological Ascendancy Ascension Perk, which would add more research output for each rare (purple) techs you research. There are A LOT of mods like APSR or ESC: NEXT that add additional rare techs.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1199002146

  This mod takes the "advanced" part in its name quite seriously, there are lots of well-thought out combinations and the AI knows how to use most of them. In consequence, some perks are challenging to fight against, e.g. Maginot Line AP or Hostile Territory AP. Awesome mod.

After digging in some files, I've found out that each "finish_astral_rift = yes" effect should also add to the amount of "astral_rifts_completed". Therefore, having extra modded astral rifts in general should give you more Astral Rift options to reach the Crystal Sphere (Eternal Throne) system required for the achievements "173 ━ My Name is Ozymandias" and "174 ━ Returned to Form" respectively. The more succesful Astral Rift expeditions you complete the higher the chances you'll get a good outcome from the The Crystal Rift[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3275068730

  This mod helped me out by getting The Crystal Rift consistently in the majority of my games. UPDATE: kroun just confirmed to me it is actually their More Traditions mod lowering the astral rift failure probability (by -25% in case you need to know) which made reaching The Crystal Sphere more consistently.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3343044098

  Look, your Astral threads are going to overflow regardless, even if you have more Astral actions available. Notwithstanding, you'll feel better about not wasting as much with this mod active. Plus, there are neat Astral actions. E.g an action to make every foreign empire lose 50 Intel on you or the action to create an Astral storm.

  I've tried getting two precursor achievements in a row with this mod, but the secondary precursor line does not count towards their respective precursor achievement for some reason, I got the Baol quest chain as my second precursor if that matters. Probably a hard-coded interaction by PDX just like what happened with War of Wreaths mod and "Towards Utopia" achievement (this interaction is explained below in the Civic Mods section).

  IMPORTANT: Stick to one precursor chain per playthrough. Unless you want to experiment a bit. If so, please let me know what you find to update the guide accordingly.

As long as civic mods are not blended together with new ethics, they are generally compatible-friendly. Just keep in mind that it is always a good idea to finish civic-related achievements first before fully committing to completely modded governments.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3301072047

  Another crazy combo would be using the "Aesthetic" Tradition Tree from Expanded Stellaris Traditions and have the Head of Xenoturism in your council to buff entertainer jobs. Subsequently, you can generate ridiculous amounts of trade value from galactic tourism, which you can then exchange for other resources by selecting the right Trade Policy[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3208372628

  Extremely high roleplay potential when paired with the Fire Cult[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] civic.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3572910112

  Just in case you are wondering, as an authoritarian empire I tried giving all my pops the Utopian Abundance citizen rights (War of Wreaths mod allows this). Sadly, it doesn't give you achievement "064 ━ Towards Utopia" because the game also checks if you are egalitarian. Well, I don't even understand why PDX decided that egalitarian check was necessary since those citizen rights are only available to egalitarians in the base game. Anyways, PDX weird design choices strike again!

  achievement_towards_utopia = { id = 64 possible = { host_has_dlc = "Utopia" } happened = { is_egalitarian = yes # Sartek says: WHY!? count_owned_pop_amount = { count >= 50000 limit = { has_living_standard = { type = living_standard_utopian } } } } }
  Source: PDX snippet
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3248725702

  This mod has my all time favorite civic: World Crackers. I have to restrain myself to not use it, not because of the Total War - Casus Belli, but rather because of the Arc Furnace-level mineral output you can get in early-game. World Crackers probably has a better mineral output than the Astro-Mining Bots[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] civic.

Usually Council agendas are tied to Tradition trees, that means stand alone Council Agenda mods are quite rare, in fact I do not know of any other examples besides this mod. These mods are completely safe to mix and match with any other mods.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3533198210

When you add these mods to your mod list, you might think that they are very situational. I couldn't have been more wrong about that! Any Crisis defines the ultimate goal of your empire or foreign empires. Expanding this area just made every game overall more fun. Although, it was more challenging when the AI advanced quite a bit as a Crisis... Ultimately, look at playable Crisis mods as tools, since any of these could help you while achievement hunting.

IMPORTANT: Selecting a Crisis is a permanent choice, think twice before selecting a modded Crisis since you could be completing a vanilla Crisis achievement path instead (if you haven't already).

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3567407671 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  Good against any Crisis. Therefore, excellent when looking for any Crisis related achievements. There is also a chance the AI might pick this while you are a Crisis. 🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3419898929 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  I'm going to circle back to the "120 ━ Sic Semper Tyrannis" achievement quite a bit during this guide. This is because it was my most challenging and interesting hunt. Just imagine the Emperor's second hand was a Monopolist Crisis and basically the economic powerhouse of the Galactic Imperium, loyalists had a huge advantage and I have no words to describe the carnage that followed during the rebellion. Thanks Monopolist Crisis mod, you are breathtaking! 🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2911573696

  This one is actually a mid-game Crisis and not a playable one. Plus, it has a small bug where Crisis' armies stay in orbit after securing a planet. But, it was interesting to use it for a couple of campaigns.

  IMPORTANT: The "080 ━ No Khan Do" achievement would probably be no longer achievable with The Crimson Throng mod, this is because it probably replaces the Khan Crisis. Keep in mind, this is not 100% confirmed since it could have been RNG luck while I still had this mod active.
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3389716865 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  If you are looking for consistency during your hunts, check this mod out. No, I'm not suggesting you become the Contingency every run, instead I'm talking about the system where this mod's events trigger... While you have this mod active, on every game, a system called "Sterilization Hub 1A6F" would be created, this system is usually around 4 hyperlane jumps from your capital system. What makes Sterilization Hub 1A6F so interesting is not only its archaeological site, but also its orbital deposits. It has minerals, alloys and all three strategic resources scattered around. But more importantly, it has a very small molten world! What this all means is that you'll get an excellent Arc Furnace[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] candidate system near you... Every. Single. Time. 🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3623819527 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  A physics, shields and dark/white matter focused Crisis, it is so well made that I wish I found it sooner. I only used this mod once during my Clone Army achievement run (one of the few I had left at the time) and found no conflicts whatsoever, even after the Crisis swapped my clone portraits with the post-barionic ones. Quite fun, except when your ships eat any shots that penetrate shields. 🐐

These mods are directly correlated to planet management and their respective economies. I could mark all of these mods in this category with the "🐐". However, this category in particular has a lot of niche features that are up to personal preferences. Oh and also, all items listed below are compatible with each other, so please add as many as you want to your mod list.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2877750087
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=865040033
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3072858623
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3515440781
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3536808066
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3536044971
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3493833184
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3538765396
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3612577365

I've never understood why you need a DLC to get a feature that should be in the base game. Sometimes it feels like they are selling a pizza with no cheese or a lasagna with no pasta. Unfortunately, espionage is one of those DLC-exclusive features... In any case, if you have the chance to experience it; it is quite nice but somewhat lackluster baseline, which is why I highly recommend modding this area. Here are a few recommendations:

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3496262792

  Overall, a great addition for any game, even the AI gets annoying sometimes with these operations. Just imagine multiplayer games with this mod, it would be nuts. Highly recommended, 10/10 I would spam Undermine Central Control again.

  IMPORTANT: New operations from this mod, do not count towards the "117 ━ Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Blorg" achievement, since Chris' events do not have a supporting script for this. This is not really an author's oversight. Remember that earning achievements with mods is not widespread information (but it could be down the line).
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2909530933

  This mod makes your early-game and mid-game conflicts scarier due to lack of information. Thus, making the game more enjoyable, interesting and somewhat more realistic. I think Xenophobic empires benefit the most from these changes, which you can use to your advantage during your playthroughs.

Of course there are other mods that add enclaves as a secondary feature, a notable example is ACOT. However, More Enclaves is the only enclave-focused mod that I can think of.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3110808560

  Don't underestimate Idyllic Caretakers' food bonuses, especially if you go bioships or fauna.

  Actual dryads as Idyllic Caretakers, thanks RNGesus. Source: RNGesus Myself

IMPORTANT: Destroying modded enclaves is not required to get achievement "157 ━ Dark Forest". This is because the achievement script is very specific about it and only accounts for vanilla + DLC enclaves.

IMPORTANT: Out of all mod categories, this one is the most conflicting one: because these don't mix well with other mods without compatibility patches, the new ethics don't count towards achievements and it conflicts with an achievement trick that would be later mentioned in the guide. Use at your own discretion.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2517213262

Of course, it is not my intention to throw shade to E&C: Bug Branch, E&C: Classic or E&C: Infinity. All of these are amazing mods. I even dare to say that there was a point during my hunt that I was thinking to myself and said: Hey, I should probably hurry up and get all these achievements, this way I can "unlock" these awesome mods and use them at my leisure without worrying about anything.

Here you can find mods that focus on anomalies, special projects, situations and archeology. In general, I recommend deactivating these type of mods whenever you are aiming for precursor achievements, anomaly-related achievements and/or primitive-related achievements. This advice is particularly relevant if you are searching for the Zroni and trying to obtain the "101 ━ Dust Off" achievement.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2807778592
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3482538734
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2878075116 IMPORTANT: Adding More Primitives mod could hinder you during your hunt, this is because of extra primitive ages, cosmogenesis ending and extra events. Additionally, it adds an extra layer of unknown RNG to some achievements that are already RNG-heavy like "053 ━ Outside Context"
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3079374348
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3062038863 IMPORTANT: The ability to get consecutive precursor dig sites could saturate your focus during achievement hunts related to any vanilla precursor chains. Don't forget to deactivate modded precursors until you obtain all precursor-related achievements, Forgotten Empires lets you do that from Galaxy Creation.
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2459872857
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3048203654 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  Having Keides and Azaryn available in most playthroughs helps out a lot. Most importantly, you no longer have to rely on RNG to complete the achievements "164 ━ A Tad Too Late" and "165 ━Dawn Of A Million Souls" respectively. 🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2632975630 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  No more boring save-scumming. This mod is extremely helpful when aiming for the achievements "087 ━Inscrutable Power" and "102 ━ Raiders of the Lost Galatron" respectively. 🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=727000451

IMPORTANT: Some Event mod content is so massive that it would be easy to saturate your log with Situations, you could miss important decisions like those from the Limbo event chain. Additionally, a lot of vanilla quest chains like Brain-slugs require clear habitable planets with no anomalies to trigger, it would not matter how much or for how long you beg the Shroudwalkers.

Tweaking your list with these mods is highly recommended. Particularly with "New Galactic System" and/or "MOVE! Ultra-fast Senate Timers", which would significantly lower voting time and time between resolutions.

IMPORTANT: You could miss the achievement "160 ━ No Good Deed" if your game's senate timers are set at their default values. Seriously, do yourself a favor and mod your game please.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3344489699
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3451188081
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2652578379

  The goal of this mod is to make Galcom more interactive and interesting. It gives the Galactic Empire a ton of new options in the form of Imperial Vassals, which can become the States of the Galactic Empire. It makes the galactic scene extremely fascinating and provides a ton of resolutions or ideas such as the Galactic Expo that are a lot of fun to experiment with. The entire political environment is far more amusing when combined with the Dynamic Political Events mod.

  Contrary to widespread belief, it can be used with numerous different Galcom mods. Though, it might require some patching and order priority when you pair this mod with other heavy Galcom mods like NGS (New Galactic System). Either way this mod is definitely a powerful ingredient when spicing up Stellaris' Galcom and politic dynamics in general.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3608784866 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  All GalCom-related achievements are much easier to obtain with this mod. 🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2928840618

  Most GalCom-related achievements are much easier to obtain with this mod. The extra bonuses from new resolutions are great.

  IMPORTANT: NGS adds level 4 sanctions in all resolution categories for anyone in breach of Galactic Law. Unfortunately, this could heavily disrupt you when trying to obtain the "111 ━ You've Been Served" achievement, because the game looks for ALL level 3 sanctions instead. I recommend deactivating this mod until you get that achievement.
  achievement_see_you_in_court = { id = 111 happened = { is_active_resolution = "resolution_sanctions_tech_3" is_active_resolution = "resolution_sanctions_economic_3" is_active_resolution = "resolution_sanctions_military_3" is_active_resolution = "resolution_sanctions_administrative_3" any_country = { is_galactic_community_member = yes is_in_breach_of_any = no has_modifier = resolution_denounced } } }
  Source: PDX snippet

I didn't use these mods during my achievement hunt. This is because I don't know to what extend these would have changed things, e.g. Earth spawn chance, anomaly spawns, leviathan spawns, et al. If someone test these mods out let me know so I can update this part of the guide.

Notable mods in this category that I've used but not during achievement hunting:

• Hydra's More Galaxy Shapes
  
• Paint a Galaxy

I don't have much to say about these mods; other than they are nifty and compatible-friendly. They also don't interact with any achievements at all. At least, as far as I know.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3195070547
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3334925693

In my opinion, Orbital Economy Overhaul is the most suitable Megastructure mod for achievement runs, because it is the most balanced in terms of gameplay, performs better, and caused me fewer compatibility issues. Nevertheless, the mods listed below are all enjoyable.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1121692237 IMPORTANT: I didn't fully test all crisis interactions from Gigastructures but I'm fairly certain that having Blokkats or the Kaiser in your backyard makes everything more difficult to achieve. Particularly, vanilla crisis achievements. Keep in mind that you can toggle Gigas' custom crisis from their menu.

  Gigastructures is a great mod that I've played with countless of times but it could also be somewhat intricate to pair with certain mods. This is probably because this mod is not just about megastructures and it tries almost all tricks in the modding book. E.g. Galaxy generation stuff, crisis mechanics, new districts and required planet types, etc. Just be mindful that lag is still a thing and simulation time is exacerbated when you use this mod, which could put a dent in your overall motivation.

  IMPORTANT: Incompatible with Orbital Economy Overhaul.
  IMPORTANT: Incompatible with ! Age of Wonder.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3155789435 IMPORTANT: The achievement "114 ━ Humble Pie" would be more difficult to achieve with OEO mod, this is because the AI would have more Tradition options besides Supremacy. However, you could solve this by hosting your saved game and briefly playing as a prospective supremacist AI, I will go in a bit more depth in the related achievement section.

  This mod is practically Gigastructures Lite, it is another great mod that I've used in almost all my achievement runs. It would make your games more interesting; it does this by changing the megastructure upkeep to trade instead of energy, by adding early-game megastructures and by adding a few extra orbital economy Traditions. Interestingly enough, the AI is also smart enough when building these new orbital structures and buffs its economy accordingly.

  IMPORTANT: Incompatible with Gigastructural Engineering.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2660548454

  Yep, Gigastructural Engineering is not the only dominant Megastructure mod out there. The "! Age of Wonder" mod is also an excellent choice. However, I haven't played as extensively with this mod to fully grasp everything. Please let me know in the comments area if you have any other information about this mod and would like to talk about possible achievement interactions.

  IMPORTANT: Incompatible with Gigastructural Engineering.

Just keep in mind that any minor patron mods would be incompatible with each other, if other similar mods exist in the future. Other than that, these are compatible with everything else.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3579870058

  This mod is great and is unique in a lot of areas; currently, it is the only mod in this category. I've obtained all "Shadows of the Shroud" DLC achievements with this mod on, that means that this mod doesn't even conflict with the "199 ━ Mildly Possessed" achievement or "201 ━ Master of the Shroud" achievement conditions.

These mods were already achievement-friendly since they don't change the checksum. Here are some recommendations:

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1224507727
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2276850902
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3358615065
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=919411851
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1351268991
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3581611810
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=684454645
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3045196346

Flag mods were already achievement-friendly since they don't change the checksum, thought it has always been weird to me that Nameset mods restrict achievements. Thankfully, if you setup everything correctly you no longer have to worry about this dilemma. Here are some recommendations:

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=682691478
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1900830460
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2104538771

It is important to note that there are plenty of base game origins and their respective achievements. Therefore, similar to my advice for Civic mods, I highly recommend tackling Origin-related achievements first before using modded origins. There are of course some options that are always welcome. Notable examples are: On The Precipice - Horizon Signal Origin mod or a mod that buffs base origins like Better Origins.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3366111136

  Another excellent mod that would help you with a plethora of achievement playthroughs (too many to name them all). As a good example, there isn't a Mechanist Origin achievement per se, but the buff this mod provides can aid you with a non-Origin achievement like "042 ━ Planned Obsolescence" for instance.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3508824163 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  I agree, losing scientists early-on suck. Nonetheless, defeating the Horizon Signal Worm gives you those sweet Eldritch-scales that increase research output, which is always welcome whenever you are not going after Origin-related achievements. Needless to say, this mod could also help you out by getting rid of spawn RNG for the "055 ━ What Was Will Be" achievement. 🐐

  
  Fight against the lovely Horizon worm. Source: What was will be myself
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3502411629

  The Tristellar Pact origin from this mod allowed one of my custom pacifist AI empires to subsist for two centuries and beyond, quite a feat to say the least. The mod also features a Blood Court Origin, which is a purifier alliance that is challenging to fight against; for those that want to shake things up a bit.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3530558475

  A different type of payback-vibe if your dinosaurs become rangers and find Earth.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2027051983

  There are plenty of interesting origins here, I mostly used these origins for the AI and also for roleplay purposes.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1998204784

  In theory, you could use the Walking On Eggshells origin this mod offers. By doing so, you could force spawn a Voidspawn that you can eventually fight for the "082 ━ 1999 A.D." achievement without searching for it. I haven't confirmed this since I defeated the Voidspawn and earned the achievement the old-fashioned way.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2360265002

  This mod has my favorite paragon of all time, Achilles the Architect. This paragon spawns even if you don't pick the Ancient Juggernaut origin, which is great for any game as long as you find the End of Lines system. The biggest downside is that I was having some conflicts coming from this mod that were filling up my error log. Regretfully, there was no way to report this to Jasonpepe since Pepe has restricted comments. *lip smack* What a shame.

Achilles

Ironically enough, I already mentioned that my favorite Paragon doesn't come from this category, but instead it comes from an Origin mod. Nevertheless, the Paragons in this category are great, compatible and do not conflict with any achievements that I know of.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3009192745
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3623775509

I was taken aback by this category because I didn't think a mod like Planetary Diversity could conflict with achievements. Sometimes we simply don't know how intertwined some mod features are; albeit that is one of the reasons why this guide exists so don't panic!

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=819148835

  Gatekeeper (mod's author) has done an outstanding job with this mod and its respective add-ons; even going as far as outsourcing art by commission for each planetary background. Every detail sums a lot of flavor to the Galaxy. However, it has become so large that it has slight incompatibilities with certain mod combinations. Use at your own discretion.

  IMPORTANT: The achievements "051 ━ Paradise Found" and "136 ━ Fixer Upper" are unachievable with PD because the mod's terraforming engine is efficient at switching Gaia worlds to its custom Wet, Dry and Cold counterparts. These are not valid planet-types for achievement purposes. Deactivating the mod BEFORE starting a campaign is the only workaround. IMPORTANT: The achievement "045 ━ Deus Vult" is unachievable with PD because the mod's terraforming engine executes a pass after game start over pre-defined Gaia worlds, this effectively swaps them to its custom Wet, Dry and Cold counterparts. These are not valid planet-types for achievement purposes. Deactivating the mod BEFORE starting a campaign is the only workaround.

  Last important note for this mod, Azaryn's terraformation achievement "165 ━ Dawn Of A Million Souls" is the only Gaia terraforming achievement NOT affected by the Planetary Diversity Gaia-swaps. This is because the game counts if Azaryn's bulbs are depleted instead of checking if the targeted planet has the right planet class.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1346877266 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  APSR main appeal comes from the addition of extra hyper-specialized planets that are dispersed throughout the Galaxy, but that is not the only outstanding feature it has. This mod also has some sort of discovery feature that grants you unity (scalable with your unity output), which always rewards exploration for finding each of the aforementioned worlds. This extra unity reward feels so organic and it is always useful every single game; particularly, when the Tradition Cost is set at x0.25. 🐐

  IMPORTANT: Pair this mod with more Tradition trees (+ extra slots UI) whenever possible.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3297007733

  A more compatible-friendly alternative to Planetary Diversity which instead of touching Terraforming Links or adding new planet-types, it creates pseudo-planet-classes that still count as the default planet-classes the game already has. This implies that, in contrast to Planetary Diversity, you won't miss any Gaia-related achievements when using WP's New Worlds.

I'm going to be completely honest here. Empire policies ought to be easier to notice; I frequently forget to change them, and the policies from the mod below are no exception. The additional war doctrines were helpful, though, in the few instances I could recall changing policies.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3241734509

Yes, now you can use Portrait mods without worrying about whether or not they restrict achievements. As it should have been from the very beginning, ffs PDX. Also, please don't act morally superior and harass people if you find a Portrait mod used AI as a tool, a lot of modders do this for leisure and the content is free.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3417826627
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3205925118
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3171329163
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3419751410
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3271051109
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3362756221
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2976527288
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3454708235
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3414361155
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3476470356

My recommendation is usually making custom empires to force-spawn them depending on what achievement you are looking for, this mod could ease the process of brainstorming a new empire:

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2973772173

These mods change individual ship blueprints or add new weapons and components. Highly compatible with other mods, except for major overhauls that might need a custom patch.

IMPORTANT: Every Stellaris game is a race against the Class-30 singularity (a.k.a Simulation Time lag). Thus, keep in mind most Ship Component Mods add new technologies that always extend playthroughs, this is noticeable even if you set Tech Cost at x0.25.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3173319652
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3173205208
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2648658105
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3633105106

Shipset-only mods are flexible compatibility-wise and could be added to any mod list.

Since I used NSC3 quite a bit in the past, I'm just going to make a honorary mention of this mod in this section. However, since I didn't use this mod at all during my achievement runs, it would be disingenuous to talk too much about how well NSC3 works for achievement hunting. I suppose there shouldn't be much conflict besides potential lag because of Juggernaut-fleet doom-stacks. On a positive note, NSC3 Hyperlane Generation mechanic could probably make expanding psionic auras easier, which means getting achievement "200 ━ The End" would be easier as well (I will discuss more about that achievement in its respective achievement section).

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3409254248

  IMPORTANT: No, the red guy is NOT Saddam Hussein, ffs. Hah!

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2824886393

  These would be amazing bioships if someone ever creates a patch for that.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2077186491

  This is one of the few shipsets that are sectioned in different parts like all vanilla shipsets.

These are Fran's shipset patches that work with base game AND also NSC3, I personally haven't used all of them. However, Fran does an outstanding job with these patches, which makes older shipsets work with v4.0+ standards, sometimes going as far as fixing other stuff unrelated to compatibility such as 3D model textures, please check these out:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3491058987

These mods are amazing for roleplay purposes and for expanding certain empire-builds. If your modifications are on point, this tweaks could propel your achievement-hunting potential forward.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3378829098
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3478690873 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  I'm confident that there tons of combinations that I haven't tried. Regardless, don't hyperfocus on positive traits only, there are negative traits like Polyploid (-33% pop growth speed) that could actually help you! Let's say you are trying to have more robots than organic pops; by adding the Polyploid trait to your organics it would be easier to manage your population, which ultimately can help you with achievements such as "042 ━ Planned Obsolescence" or "139 ━ Machine Supremacy".

Don't sleep on these mods, some of these could be the key towards certain achievements, make the galaxy feel more alive or simply give you a nice headstart to shake things up.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2481973185 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  One of the mods with the highest achievement assists by a long shot. 🐐 Most notably, this mod could help you with most Distant Stars DLC and Leviathans DLC achievements, such as:

  • 026 ━ Hear me Roar
    
  • 027 ━ Infinite Creation
    
  • 028 ━ Whence It Came
    
  • 029 ━ Dreadnought
    
  • 030 ━ Stellar Performance
    
  • 031 ━ Warrior of Light
    
  • 032 ━ Unravelling Enigma
    
  • 081 ━ Who Scraps the Scrapper
    
  • 082 ━ 1999 A.D.
    
  • 083 ━ A Hump Like a Snow-Hill
  IMPORTANT: Tiny galaxies (200 stars) or Small galaxies (400 stars) do NOT guarantee all leviathans to appear, even if these are "guaranteed" by this mod. Use a medium galaxy (600 stars) or higher instead.
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2036603923

  You could add this mod If you are interested in experiencing base game events that are usually hidden behind heavy RNG. Additionally getting the Rubricator relic on a guaranteed basis could help you with achievements such as "097 ━ It belongs in a museum!", "098 ━ Relic Hunter" or "104 ━ Unlimited Power!".

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2638108246

  You should consider adding this mod If you want to add nice custom systems with a challenge and an equal reward. As a side note, I'm unsure if wandering dragons from Here, There Be Dragons fight with Dragons from these new ancient systems.

  
  One of the ancient Dragons in the Antares System. Source: Myself
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3600444629

  Excellent mod for those craving Solar system power fantasies. In general, having a size 40 capital planet is overkill but that is the whole point. Highly recommended.

  IMPORTANT: Only use one Solar System initializer mod at a time.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3550010836 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  This mod is a good companion when aiming for the "152 ━ Quest Complete" achievement. Plus, for the complete experience you could pair this mod with Reclaimers of the Toxic God. 🐐

  IMPORTANT: Only use one Solar System initializer mod at a time.

At first, having more traditions than usual could be a little bit overwhelming. However, once you get a grasp on some synergies, you'll start mixing modifiers until you find that sweet spot for your civilization. Additionally, these mods usually work with pretty much any other mod (please refer to the exception below), all you have to do is add a mod that gives you extra Tradition and Ascension Perk slots (please refer to the UI-only Mods section in this guide).

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=946222466 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  There are tons of new combinations with this mod, these are particularly useful for any campaign and of course for achievement hunting. One Tradition Tree that stands out the most for me is the "Aesthetic" Tradition Tree, which is really good when playing with the Warrior Culture civic[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] (base game civic), this combination allows you to Unity rush and get your third civic pick early on, while also lowering your Duelist jobs alloy upkeep.

  Another good combination is using the "Proliferation" Tradition Tree with Space Fauna or any Bioship, since it would buff pop growth, ship growth and food production. Really useful for some of the Biogenesis DLC or Grand Archive DLC achievements. Those achievements are: "191 ━ Beastmaster", "192 ━ King of Monsters", "193 ━ Born to be Wild" and "197 ━ Flesh Adapts" respectively. 🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3353855875

  The feature I've used the most from this mod is the rework for the Discovery Tradition Tree[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com], which would now give you more research from orbital structures. Useful for any game.

  IMPORTANT: I recommend pairing this mod with the Better Perks mod.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3067902147 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  Stacking Espionage-focused trees (e.g Subterfuge + Manipulation) or two Archeology trees (e.g Archivism + Archeology) is always nice, it all depends on your goals. It is possible to reach a point where you can extort favors in less than 60 in-game days or digging sites so fast that you can click through all the events one after another. Really useful for certain achievements such as: "117 ━ Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Blorg" or "120 ━ Sic Semper Tyrannis".

  Another nice feature is the Urbanization Tradition Tree, it is amazing and it is quite useful for any campaigns because you will always have enough space in your planets for more pops. It also makes negative traits such as Bulky[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] more viable.

  Lastly, it is worth mentioning that this mod has a Curiosity Tradition Tree which lowers the chance of failing Astral Rift expeditions which increases your chances of reaching the Crystal Sphere (Eternal Throne) system required for the achievements "173 ━ My Name is Ozymandias" and "174 ━ Returned to Form" respectively.🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2962431363

  Freeing up Ascension Perk slots is always nice. Highly recommended.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1311725711

  Out of all tradition mods, this one stands out the most because it has a lot of overrides that could conflict with new PDX updates and economy mods. It does have tons of good ideas that could be implemented in a more compatible-friendly way. Use this mod if you know how to use Irony Mod Manager to create custom patches yourself, I'll leave that at your own discretion.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2438313459

  If I had to pick only one Tradition from this mod, that would be the Ultra-limit Tradition Tree which further buffs well managed planets. Useful for any game.

IMPORTANT: The achievement "114 ━ Humble Pie" would be more difficult to achieve with Tradition mods, this is because the AI would have more Tradition options besides Supremacy. However, you could solve this by hosting your saved game and briefly playing as a prospective supremacist AI, I will go in a bit more depth in the related achievement section.

These are really useful mods for any mod list. More importantly, by allowing achievements with mods you are no longer restricted to only UI Overhaul Dynamic when aiming for achievements.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3359568450 IMPORTANT: The achievement "078 ━ Tradition is Everything" would be more difficult to achieve, this is because the game doesn't count if you've completed exactly 7 tradition trees, instead it checks if all tradition trees are filled up. Don't go crazy with the amount of tradition slots (e.g. 100+ Traditions), otherwise it could take forever to get this achievement.

  Technically, you could just use the default 7T+8AP slots from Vanilla (Base Stellaris). But, you'll find yourself with far less combinations if you use the mods recommended in this guide. This is why using this mod (31T+32AP) or at least 23T+24AP is highly recommended. Oh and don't forget to add this mod's dependency: Tradition UI 4.2~4.0

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3361979100 IMPORTANT: The achievement "185 ━ It Belongs in a... oh right" becomes unachievable if you use this mod, there is no way to fill up a single exhibition with 256 specimens. Out of curiosity, I also made a custom mod to decrease slots from the default value but it doesn't trigger the achievement either, just leave this mod and similar mods out until you get that achievement.

  Even though this was set as an "alert" in this guide, this mod is good and compatible-friendly. In most of your achievement runs having more specimens means adding more empire bonuses; which in return it could shorten the time it takes to get an achievement. Oh and don't forget to add this mod's dependency: UltraLimit UI: Specimen and Astral Action

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1623423360 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  The base game UI built around 720p is awful just like PDX design choices. However, that is why this mod is so relevant and number one in the Workshop. 🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292195087

  Adds more flavor to the Planetary UI while also keeping it functional. *Chef's kiss*.

These mods are more useful the bigger your mod list is.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2815767345 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  It decreases mid-game and end-game lag. Enough said! 🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2821711162 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  This is not a shameless ad, I swear! Since we were discussing about Ascension Perks and Traditions, I'm recommending my mod, this one not only makes everything more cohesive but it also gives you the ability to "re-roll" your Ascension Perks which could be useful in plenty of situations.🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1595876588

These are rare gems. This category is for those mods that could be considered a jack-of-all-trades and doesn't lean on a specific mod category WHILE also being compatible-friendly. By the way, some mods below have TONS of Origins and Civics, all of them are interesting and well fleshed-out. Yet, you are probably going to be preoccupied with vanilla governments until you obtain their respective achievements. Or at least, you should tackle base game Origins first since those are locked to one per playthrough.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2719075597

  An excellent choice, this mod is like fine wine. A great example on how you can still make gigantic mods that are compatible with pretty much anything else. Hence the reason is the top Versatile mod in this list. If you are craving for extra Cyberpunk themed content or in general Space Horror themed content, this is the right mod for you.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3488885133

  Yes, for a brief moment I thought about baiting since this mod has been resilient to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. On the other hand, just like what I thought while voluntarily leaving the Stellaris Modding Den; memeing about our clashing convictions will lead us nowhere. Trolling perpetuates trolling just like how... "Violence breeds violence, but in the end it has to be this waaay~ ♫". 🥚

  Controversies aside, this is a great mod for those that want a bunch of compatible-friendly trekker-content at once without using huge overhaul mods. A mod from the community for the community.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=915432220

  Since elves are immortal, I initially thought that when using the Under One Rule[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin it was not possible to obtain achievement "168 ━ Equality! Democracy! Freedom!" with them. Surprisingly enough, even if "The Fall" event is never triggered due to immortality, the Reformists event chain still happens regardless. This is because the event chain is tied to the end of the Unifying Promise situation, which will set the events to happen between 1800 to 3600 days later.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2806903835

  This mod offers exceptional roleplay value. Highly recommended!

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2964969284 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  Any mod that expands on army mechanics is already welcome, but this one takes it one step further. It makes ground combat more interesting by using an army attachments progression system that makes your troops more powerful depending on your technological level. The best part is that the AI also uses any of these army attachments effectively. 🐐

  IMPORTANT: I highly recommend using this mod with the Technology Diffusion mod.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=952438221

  It is important to note that dragons from this mod ignore most leviathans. Sadly, the Wraith is an exception, probably because it is the only wandering Leviathan; I had to learn this the hard way. At one point, I was wondering why none of my games had a Wraith, I even had All Leviathans Spawns installed, until I took a closer look... Just imagine that a 40K power Marauder's starbase and one Crimson Wraith Leviathan were shooting at this wandering Dragon from Here, There Be Dragons mod and the Dragon still won, which leads me to the following advice...

  
  5X Khan Starbase vs. Dragon vs. Crimson Wraith. Source: myself. IMPORTANT: If you set the mid-game date too early and use the Here, There Be Dragons mod. It is highly likely that any wandering dragons defeat the Wraith Leviathan before you, effectively locking yourself out of achievement "031 ━ Warrior of Light" for that playthorugh.

  Lastly, I've also tested if dragon hatchlings from this mod count towards achievement "151 ━ There Be Dragons". Unfortunately, these new dragons do not count. This is because the game uses the "is_dragon" scripted trigger and modded dragons are obviously not included. UNLESS someone adds them in the future by overriding the trigger in a custom mod.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2293169684

  Roleplaying about becoming the Grey Tempest is such a neat idea! Furthermore, the advanced origin in this mod gives you a ringworld from the start; this means that this mod could help you obtain achievement "038 ━ Put a Ring On It" instantly.

A list of miscellaneous mods, that spiced up things a bit during my games:

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3341346023 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  At this point, I would completely miss all storm alerts without this mod. 🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3108359904

  This mod adds an extra challenge after colonization by enhancing the hostile fauna mechanic, which is virtually nonexistent in the default game. Furthermore, this mod adds bosses to make landing on Fallen Empire worlds more exciting and lets you use pacified wildlife to assault planets. I recall landing on a capital of one of the Hive Fallen Empires and engaging in Helldiver-style combat against a 50K worm + 15k Fallen Empire Defense armies. Ultimately earning an heroic victory with a navy bombarding from orbit and a mere 35K power army.

  IMPORTANT: I highly recommend using this mod with WP's Army Attachments

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3153706012

  Another mod that was already compatible with achievements but I had to mention this GFX mod somewhere. Top quality mod.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1878473679

  Thankfully, you no longer need ASB Ironman since the main version should give you achievements anyway. Yay! No more silly GFX sacrifices because of bad Stellaris dev's game design choices.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3427104174

  I really like the new layer of planetary exploration this mod offers and even though it doesn't account for some modded planets like those from Real Space sub-mods, it is still a good addition to the game. Oh and in case you are wondering, it doesn't conflict with achievement "138 ━ Tend the Garden".

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3405506592 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  Let me tell you, this mod is a lifesaver. I remember that during my campaign where I was focusing on getting achievement "120 ━ Sic Semper Tyrannis" my war winning condition was at -2 points even though all Emperor and Loyalists systems were conquered and all planets were secured, they didn't have any remaining fleets or transports. The war was so great that obviously my Separatists allies occupied a good chunk from the enemy territory but because I was the one that initiated the war; somehow, I did not have enough "points" to cleanly win the war and the desperation was real at 100% war attrition. Yes, because of those two stupid non-sensical points I almost lost the chance to get that achievement. Thus, I saved the game (literally and figuratively) and added this mod in the middle of my game, which effortlessly solved the points issue. After that I kept the mod around and it helped me with other achievements because... 🚬"War... War never changes". 🐐

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3504642914

  The ability to disrupt AI federations or hegemonies is always welcome. Plus, it could help you by grabbing those extra GalCom votes you might need for certain achievement runs.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3047070190 G.O.A.T. status 🐐

  Yes, this mod still works. The AI will be able to keep up with players to a certain degree by adding a layer of realism when it comes to technology sharing. Honestly without this feature I would have died of boredom way before finishing all achievements. 🐐

There are various mods with modular features that you may find useful, you can find them here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3365788364

I've mixed some playthroughs with not so optimal settings, otherwise boredom would have killed my motivation. Unfortunately, some games with too many empires became laggy due to simulation lag, which led to frustration during some achievement runs because the game was excruciatingly slow. Ultimately you need to find your own balance, take your time, don't go crazy with the amount of AI empires and have fun in the process. If you are reading this in the future, I hope Paradox finally optimized their mess after their "performance promise" v4.0+ update.

Having established my modding advice in previous sections; we can now discuss about standard Galaxy settings that you should generally use; these settings are referred to in each achievement section as "Optimal Settings: Default", unless it is specified otherwise because an achievement requires a different setup. Having said that, To be as effective as possible during your hunts, I recommend the following settings:

It is important to be aware of the following:

• If using AI empires; leave Logistic Growth Ceiling and Growth Required Scaling as default.
  
• If using AI empires; the ideal amount of AI empires is around five or less in order to avoid simulation time lag as much as possible.
  
• Primitives eventually evolve and reach the stars.
  
• There are some mods that add new empires via events.
  
• If no AI empires are required for your hunt; having at least one Fallen Empire satisfies the condition for a winnable game, remember that if no empires are present it is not possible to earn achievements that require your empire to win (e.g Victorious achievement).
  
• At x0.25 Tech and Tradition cost is possible to beat a Fallen Empire in 50 in-game years.
  
• Activated gateways in unclaimed systems can be used by anyone with a gateway.
  
• If expanding your psionic aura is important you can increase Hyperlane Density to Full.
  
• Mods like APSR add extra planets which are not affected by the Habitable Worlds slider.
  
• Guaranteed Habitable planets are only affected by the amount of playable empires and are NOT affected by the total Habitable Worlds slider.
  
• Crisis strength could be increased if you feel AIs could beat a Crisis before you.
  
• Commodore Difficulty with scaling in Midgame and Difficulty Modifiers enabled is my sweet spot in terms of overall difficulty, you may disagree.
  
• Stellaris has a spawning bias for random AIs near you, this means that if you don't force your own custom made empires beforehand; nearby AIs may be homicidal or have opposing ethics to antagonize you.
  
• DO NOT use the console command "debug_achievements", as it DOES NOT do what the wiki used to say it does. In reality it just is removes all your achievements putting you back at 0/211. (Thanks @Mael for bringing this up!)

Useful tricks that could help you during your playthroughs:

• Releasing Vassal Trick: Quite straight forward, just expand beyond your initial sector and manually assign a far away planet as a sector capital, you can then manage or release them as vassals from the Empire Sectors screen. Remember that this only available to individualist empires, Gestalt empires cannot use this trick. You could use this stratagem to form the Galcom; even if there were no other regular empires present, keep dividing your nation until you have 3 empires total (including you).
  Please note that if your empire is Xenophobe, your vassals may vote against creating the Galcom. This could happen even if they have "Restricted Voting" in their vassalization contract.
  
  
• Obtain federation benefits with a 1-system satellite AI: This one derives from the Releasing Vassal Trick, but instead of keeping them as vassals you could release them and befriend them to form a Federation. Please refer to achievement "007 ━ Birth of a Federation".
  Remember that while the game is paused you can modify sectors and make them 1-system wide, this way you can limit your satellite empire's future territory before releasing them.
  
  
• Multiplayer Trick: Most tricks derive from this trick. You can save your game at anytime and host it locally to select any other playable empire; this is quite helpful to force AI into taking an action that would help you during your hunt. Alternatively, you could use this to go in Observer mode and check the Galaxy for something you may need for an achievement.
  Observing the galaxy in multiplayer doesn't void your save from achievements unlike using the observer command in single player.
  
  
• Galactic Community trick: Yes, you could just become sufficiently powerful or release vassals to decide Galcom outcomes. However, this is not completely required, since you may use the Multiplayer Trick around 15 in-game days before a resolution voting time ends and force an AI to vote where is needed.
  AIs would absolutely change their vote if given the chance, that is why we need to wait until there is only 15 days left to pass or reject a resolution. Remember that there is a cooldown between vote swaps.
  
  
• Farming AIs Trick: The Stellaris Wiki recommends a "Zero Empire" trick but this is not always beneficial because AIs are capable of receiving achievement's "country flags" just like a player empire does. This means you could use the Multiplayer Trick to switch over to an empire you suspect achieved something, then after unpausing the multiplayer game you may earn an achievement if the AI met all conditions. Using galaxies with a bunch of empires and/or non-optimal settings during your first few playthroughs may actually help you, just make sure that you force spawn custom AIs that have distinct origins, ethics and civics.
  Don't go crazy with the amount of AI empires, otherwise you may face the wrath of Simulation Lag.
  
  
• Become the advanced start empire: You could start with no empires and maybe one Fallen Empire (for those achievements that require winning), then you may set primitives to x5. Primitives eventually obtain FTL drives and become regular AI empires. Though more importantly, these empires will always be technologically behind you. That is when this trick becomes useful, because there are some achievements where you may need the galactic community, while you may not want any powerful members that could stand in your way.
  Primitives don't consume as much computing power as regular empires, it is safe to add as many primitives as you want without worrying about Simulation Lag.
  
  
• Use version 4.2.*: This version introduced unhinged and controversial economic changes that some players welcomed and others didn't. Regardless, my achievement hunt was mainly done between v4.1.6 and version v4.2.4, which basically propelled any build I played as. On average, this meant having a chance against a Fallen Empire within 50 in-game years (or less depending on how try-hard you felt that day); this is something that would no longer be possible in the upcoming v4.3, since devs balanced nerfed everything across the board.

• Manual Save Lookup: You may have an easier time by manually checking saves to look if an empire earned an achievement, if they have a specific ship type (i.e for the Stay on Target achievement), if they have earned a country flag based on an event, et al. This technique is a little bit advanced since you need to be familiar with what you are looking for. For starters I recommend a program like Visual Studio Code to search strings in any text files within a folder, you may also consider a program like Notepad++ to open the save file since it handles big files better. Afterwards, you can grab your save and change the .sav extension to .zip; just decompress it as usual. Lastly, you can cross-reference your gamestate file to the achievements.txt.
  All Stellaris achievements are found at Stellaris/common/achievements.txt
  
  Let's say for example you want to search for a country that has revealed Contingency infiltrators (from achievement 024 ━ Voight Kampff), first you may search in achievements.txt for "id = 24", then you'll find the flag is "has_country_flag = synth_detector". Once you do that, you can check your gamestate file for "synth_detector" and you'll find any countries that have revealed the Contingency plans. If on the other hand you want to search for how the achievement is triggered you could use "has_country_flag = synth_detector" but rename it to its respective effect, which would be "set_country_flag = synth_detector. Afterwards you can cross-reference every entry that has that line by bulk searching in a program such as Visual Studio Code.

My advice during this section is going to be separated in four components: Recommendations towards the achievement, difficulty level, RNG rating (how randomness affects that achievement) and optimal galaxy settings whenever these need some tweaking. Achievements are organized based in the order they were scripted and added in-game.

  GOOD LUCK; HAVE FUN!

Colonize a planet. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Earn a total Mineral income each month above 249. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Earn a total Mineral income each month above 999. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally while trying to obtain the "90 ━ Black Hole Mining" achievement or if you have a civic like World Crackers (which gives mineral deposits in most cracked planets) from Hydra's More Civics. Skip to the next achievement.

Store 1000 Energy Credits. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Store 5000 Energy Credits. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Have access to each strategic resource. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: For anyone technical-oriented; you need an income that is equal or higher than one per month for almost all base game resources. You'll also earn this achievement naturally. But in case you are wondering, the game specifically looks for: Yep, this is an old achievement and it doesn't include all resources. PDX could not care to update the trigger conditions after releasing a bunch of DLC afterwards. Source: PDX snippet.

Establish a Federation. Optimal Settings:

• Default.

Recommendation: Once you research the Federation's technology, you could create a vassal and release them from their vassal contract (releasing them gives you a relationship bonus). Then increase their trust by creating an embassy, supporting independence, sending envoys, selecting a diplomacy-related tradition, or other actions. Eventually, you'll earn enough trust to create a federation, which could help you with this and other achievements such as "107 ━ Let Us Go Forward Together" and "113 ━ Opposites Attract" as well. For those technical-oriented, the game looks for empires that become a leader of a federation, which happens right away when establishing a federation and not when joining an existing one. Remember that xenophile or pacifist empires are more likely to engage in diplomacy.

Upgrade your homeworld's capital building to a System-Capital Complex. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Have more than two Empires as vassals. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add AIs if you prefer vassalizing by conquest instead of releasing sectors.
  
• The Technology Diffusion mod can greatly help by keeping AIs tech somewhat competitive.

Recommendation: You could take over other empires but releasing sector vassals (from the Empire Sectors screen) is the best way to go about it. When releasing vassals you don't have to worry about technological difference, which means you can ALWAYS specialize[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] them into Scholarium, Bulwark and Prospectorium vassals respectively. Furthermore, it is highly suggested you aim for achievement "128 ━ Gotta Subjugate Them All" in the same playthough.

Survey one of each basic planet-class. (16 total planet-classes) Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Do not decrease the Habitable Planets setting below x0.5

Recommendation: Takes longer to achieve if a mod swaps spawned planets with custom ones. Regardless, you'll earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Empire total fleet military power is higher than 99999. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Mods that increase ship weapons or components (Refer to that section in this guide) makes this achievement even easier. Regardless, you'll earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Terraform a planet. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: The World Shaper Ascension Perk increases terraforming speed. Plus, any empire that has access to exotic gases can access a terraforming edict to further increase terraforming speed.

Build or own a Robot Pop. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add a custom materialist empire with the Mechanist[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin.

Recommendation: Another easy achievement, either use a materialist empire or conquer one. Alternatively, you can empire swap in multiplayer to a materialist empire with robots and it will automatically give you this achievement.

Uplift a species. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Use the base game Genesis Guides[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] civic. After colonizing a planet you should be able to uplift the newly generated pre-sapients, which is done in the Empire Species screen. As a side note, I wonder if AIs are able to use Genesis Guides properly. Do you even uplift bro?

Genetically modify a species (not uplift). Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Overtuned[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin empires are able to get this achievement the fastest. Though, any genetically ascended empire can do this.

Build a fleet with a total fleet-size above 119 (v4.2) or 499 (v4.3). Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally (and it is easier in v4.2). Skip to the next achievement.

Conquer another species homeworld. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: The easiest way to go about this is by invading 1-system nascent spacefaring civilizations or pre-FTL empires. Either way, you'll earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Research a Rare technology. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Prepare yourself by listening to Break on Through by The Doors.

Recommendation: The Technological Ascendancy[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk increases rare tech drop chances. However, you'll eventually earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Research more than 14 Rare technologies in a single game. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Prepare yourself by listening to Break on Through by The Doors.
  
• Use any mod that adds rare techs. E.g. Expanded Stellaris Ascension Perks.

Recommendation: The Technological Ascendancy[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk increases rare tech drop chances. However, you'll eventually earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Successfully negotiate a trade deal. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add any non-Xenophobe, non-Homicidal and/or non-Gestalt empire.

Recommendation: This requires even less trust than proposing a Federation. Therefore, you'll earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Win a War against another Empire. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add an empire with an opposing ethic.

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally. Skip to the next achievement.

Successfully capture an extragalactic matriarch (Capture a Prethoryn Queen). Optimal Settings:

• Ideally, play in a Small galaxy (400 Stars).
  
• No regular AI empires.
  
• Max primitives (x5).
  
• Between x1 or x1.25 habitable planets.
  
• 2 Guaranteed Habitable worlds.
  
• Add a single Fallen Empire.
  
• Endgame date set at 2275 or 2300.
  
• Set Voidworms and Marauder empires to 0
  
• Deactivate L-Gates
  
• Set gateways to max (5x).
  
• Set natural wormholes to 0x if you struggle defending them.
  
• Set Crisis to Prethoryn Scourge.
  
• Set Crisis strength between 2x to 5x (or a difficulty the AI cannot handle).
  
• Technology Cost Based on Difficulty setting set to none.
  
• 0.25x Tech and Tradition Cost.
  
• Add Defender: Becoming the Crisis to your mod list.
  
• Add Guaranteed Paragons to your mod list to get Commander Skrand faster.
  
• Add any mod with G.O.A.T. status 🐐 previously mentioned in this guide.

Recommendation: There is definitely a sudden difficulty spike from previous achievements... This achievement is basically about becoming a Prethoryn rancher all by yourself. Unfortunately, you can't rely on the Galactic Community for this one, since they are about to become the fodder for your Scourge livestock. The strategy revolves around being the advanced-start civilization while the rest of the galaxy are spacefaring aspirants. Eventually, some of your primitives would become nascent spacefaring civilizations, not strong enough and without enough time to develop strength against a Crisis.

Let the primitives expand at their leisure unless they are too close to your borders (that comfort zone is up to you). Afterwards, at one point during endgame you'll receive coordinates about the first Scourge wave, which is usually away from your spawning point (hopefully). Then let the crisis ravage that surrounding area, while keeping track of natural wormholes or activated gateways that could make them expand (or escape) to unsuspected sectors along the way. If you need to spend extra influence to secure a far away gateway or wormhole, just do it.

Defensive strategies that work best to protect your ranch borders or any other chokepoints:
• Equip all slots with the best armor you can.
  
• Equip support fleets with strike craft hangars.
  
• Keep fleets safe by stacking your best afterburners.
  
• Equip main fleets with the best anti-armor weapons.
  
• Likewise, you should customize stationary defenses.
  
• Build Deep Space Citadels[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Use the Starlit Citadel Origin[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Fortify with Eternal Vigilance[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Fend off with Defender of the Galaxy[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Be part of a max level Martial Alliance[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Form the Galactic Threats Committee[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Study the Crisis with Commander Skrand[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Steal Dark Matter tech from a Fallen Empire[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Support fleets with a Target Acquisition Array[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Approve the A United Front - Custodian Resolution[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Increase ship fire rate with Distinguished Admiralty[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Become a Crisis and use any new ships or weapons[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Obtain ship components from the Enigmatic Fortress[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].

The Prethoryn Scourge needs uncolonized or inhabited planets to infest them, though they will aim for inhabited planets first. The more infested planets there are and the more the Scourge expands, the higher the chances of a Star Brood fleet to appear. Each time someone defeats a Star Brood fleet there is 1% chance that empire captures the Queen (plus the achievement) and acquire the Crisis-related Relic (relic not required for the achievement), which is the reason why other empires should not be prepared to fend off the Prethoryn; it would be quite easy for them to take the achievement away from you.

For those technical-oriented, if the Crisis have fewer than 2000 ships and at least 1 Infested World, they get 2 Star Brood fleets. The number is increased to 3 if they control at least 20% of the galaxy and to 4 if they control at least 40% of the galaxy. A Prethoryn ranch is usually manageable at around 20% galaxy infestation, but if you can get to 40% then go ahead. Ideally, at this point you should consider owning the territory surrounding the Prethoryn containment area, since your starbases and platforms would be superior than those of helpless nascent civilizations. Furthermore, you can activate gateways for your fleets and build Deep Space Citadels in any territory you may strip away or that was formerly unclaimed.

                                       Mostly harmless livestock. Source: Myself

There is also an special project that appears decades later to capture a Queen in a random Prethoryn-owned system, which takes too long to appear and should only be considered a safeguard in case you haven't captured a queen by destroying Star Brood fleets. Regardless, our main strategy should give you the achievement before that special project appears even if RNG isn't in your favor. As a last resort if everything else fails and somehow an AI beat you by capturing the Queen first, just use the Empire Swap trick by hosting the save in multiplayer and select the AI empire that you suspect was capable of such a feat. You'll earn the achievement automatically after unpausing the multiplayer game if the AI you selected have met all conditions.

IMPORTANT: Once you are done with capturing the Prethoryn Queen. If you destroy the Crisis while using Biological ships you could also obtain achievement "197 ━ Flesh Adapts" (refer to the appropriate section).

Destroy the portals employed by the invaders from another time and space. Optimal Settings:

• Ideally, play in a Tiny galaxy (200 Stars).
  
• No regular AI empires.
  
• No primitives unless you find Primitive Insights[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] useful.
  
• 2 Guaranteed Habitable worlds.
  
• Add a single Fallen Empire.
  
• Endgame date set at 2275 or 2300.
  
• Set Voidworms and Marauder empires to 0
  
• Deactivate L-Gates
  
• Set gateways to max (5x).
  
• Set natural wormholes to 0x if you struggle defending them.
  
• Set Crisis to Dimensional Invaders.
  
• Set Crisis strength between 0.25x (or higher if bored).
  
• Technology Cost Based on Difficulty setting set to none.
  
• 0.25x Tech and Tradition Cost.
  
• Add Defender: Becoming the Crisis to your mod list.
  
• Add Guaranteed Paragons to your mod list to get Commander Skrand faster.
  
• Add any mod with G.O.A.T. status 🐐 previously mentioned in this guide.

Recommendation: Out of all Crisis achievements, this one is the easiest. The difficulty basically consists of reaching the Endgame date and wait for the Extradimensional Invaders, destroy any Dimensional Anchors (if they have expanded) and reach the Dimensional Scar, which you can manually target with your fleet. Remember that just like in a MOBA, last hit gets the kill or in this case it gets the achievement.

Send Paragon Zadigal against Extradimensional fleets and thank me later. Mess with their little extradimensional energy synapses!

Worst case scenario if somehow an AI beat you by 420° no-scoping the Dimensional Scar and they blazed it, just use the Empire Swap trick by hosting the save in multiplayer and select the AI empire that you suspect was capable of such a feat. You'll earn the achievement automatically after unpausing the multiplayer game if the AI you selected is the one that destroyed the Scar.

Aggressive strategies that work best to exile these wannabe invaders:
• Use a homicidal or militarist empire.
  
• Equip as many of the best shields you can.
  
• Equip support fleets with penetrating weapons.
  
• Equip your main fleets with your best kinetic weapons.
  
• Counteract their extra evasion with accuracy components.
  
• Fend off with Defender of the Galaxy[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Be part of a max level Martial Alliance[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Form the Galactic Threats Committee[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Study the Crisis with Commander Skrand[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Steal Dark Matter tech from a Fallen Empire[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Support fleets with a Target Acquisition Array[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Increase ship fire rate with Distinguished Admiralty[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Approve the A United Front - Custodian Resolution[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Become a Crisis and use any new ships or weapons[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Obtain ship components from the Enigmatic Fortress[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Obtain more damage vs. this crisis from The Formless[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Engage in psychological warfare by leading fleets with Zadigal[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].

Develop the means to prevent nefarious infiltration.Sartek's better hint: As a regular BIOLOGICAL empire with non-gestalt sentient robots as a SECONDARY species, complete the Synth Detection project to prevent the Contingency's nefarious infiltration plan. Optimal Settings:

• Ideally, play in a Tiny galaxy (200 Stars).
  
• No primitives unless you find Primitive Insights[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] useful.
  
• Between x0.25 and x0.5 habitable planets.
  
• 2 Guaranteed Habitable worlds.
  
• Add a single Fallen Empire.
  
• Endgame date set at 2275 or 2300.
  
• Set Voidworms and Marauder empires to 0
  
• Deactivate L-Gates
  
• Set gateways to max (5x).
  
• Set natural wormholes to 0x if you struggle defending them.
  
• Set Crisis to Contingency.
  
• Set Crisis strength between 2x to 5x (or a difficulty the AI cannot handle).
  
• Technology Cost Based on Difficulty setting set to none.
  
• 0.25x Tech and Tradition Cost.
  
• Add Defender: Becoming the Crisis to your mod list.
  
• Add Guaranteed Paragons to your mod list to get Commander Skrand faster.
  
• Add 4 or 5 custom materialist empires with the Mechanist[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin.
  
• Add any mod with G.O.A.T. status 🐐 previously mentioned in this guide.

Recommendation: PDX should be clearer with their achievement hints. There are a lot of questionable design choices (once again) on what the game considers "preventing nefarious infiltration". For starters, Gestalt empires are capable of preventing effects from the Ghost Signal; but this doesn't count for achievement purposes unfortunately. Then we have synthetic ascended empires (biologicals that transformed into robots), they are all robots and yet somehow this newly ascended species cannot be corrupted by the Contingency. Lastly, we have Psionics that somehow are capable of reading machine thoughts (or something) and don't count towards the achievement, even if they have plenty of robots around.

In a quick summary, AVOID:
• Using spiritualist empires.
  
• Using biological hive empires.
  
• Using gestalt machines.
  
• Ascending as individualist robots.
  
• Ascending psionically.

With that premise, you already know which empires or ascensions you should avoid. Your empire should be the same empire recommended above for AIs, a materialist empire with the Mechanist[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin. This way you can guarantee an initial robot population, which can then become sentient with the engineering tech Artificial Administration[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Furthermore, by following these steps you may trigger the conditions for achievement "139 ━ Machine Supremacy" along the way.

There is also another trigger condition to reveal the Contingency's infiltration, besides having sentient robots, you'll also need the physics tech Quasi-Dimensional Reflection (tech_decryption_3) which you'd have more than enough time to research at x0.25 tech research cost. Once you reach the endgame date, at one point you should receive the Ghost Signal indicating the start of the Contingency Crisis but the Synth Infiltration event only happens 5 years after the Ghost Signal appears.

Here comes the annoying RNG part; what we actually need is the Synth Detection event, which only happens in a whooping 320 months or less AFTER the Synth Infiltration event. For some of us that could mean you can either detect infiltrators right away or in around 27 years. If you happen to detect infiltrators right away, congratulations! You are one lucky bastard. For everyone else... Prepare for the long haul.

Balanced strategies that work best to protect your printers:
• Balance shields and armor in all ships.
  
• Equip support fleets with high evasion.
  
• Avoid using sapient computer components.
  
• Support fleets should engage first to divert enemy fire.
  
• Equip your main fleets with X-slot penetration weapons.
  
• Likewise, you should customize stationary defenses.
  
• Build Deep Space Citadels[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Fortify with Eternal Vigilance[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Fend off with Defender of the Galaxy[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Form the Galactic Threats Committee[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Study the Crisis with Commander Skrand[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Steal Dark Matter tech from a Fallen Empire[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Support fleets with a Target Acquisition Array[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Increase ship fire rate with Distinguished Admiralty[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Approve the A United Front - Custodian Resolution[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Become a Crisis and use any new ships or weapons[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Obtain ship components from the Enigmatic Fortress[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].

Regardless of how long it takes to reveal infiltrators, the main strategy with this crisis is similar to the one I recommended for the Prethoryn Swarm; protect the Crisis until you get the achievement. However, for the Contingency you don't necessarily have to let them expand because all that matters are their printers (a.k.a machine worlds). Keep in mind that if all printers fall (if the last machine world falls), there is no more Infiltration, which means you may lose the chance to get the achievement.

DO NOT approve The Contingency - Galactic Focus[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com], because that opens your borders for AI empires and you want to keep them away by closing borders if necessary. With that said, you might be wondering; if AI is in the way, why keeping them around for this achievement? Well, they are a backup plan! Make sure all materialist AIs reach the endgame date. Weirdly enough, by having them around is how I obtained this achievement; the downside is that materialist empires tend to become individualist robots, but if they didn't you can use the Empire Swap trick. After picking the right empire and unpausing a multiplayer game, you should receive the achievement.

IMPORTANT: After destroying all 4 machine worlds, make sure you get the finishing blow on the Contingency Mainframe to also obtain "69 ━ Does Not Compute" (refer to the appropriate section).

Win the game through any victory condition in Ironman Mode. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• This is only achievable in "winnable" games so you need at least 1 another empire out there.
  
• You may add only 1 regular pacifist empire in order to get "43 ━ Peacekeeper" as well.
  
• Set Victory Year to 2400
  
• No Fallen Empires if you struggle against them.
  
• No Pre-FTLs to avoid simulation lag if they randomly reach the stars.
  
• Habitable planets set to Rare to avoid simulation lag as much as possible.
  
• Guaranteed planets to 2.

Recommendation: This is going to be a bit strange thing to say, but I recommend earning this achievement in particular without any mods. This is because patching the .exe file to earn achievements usually accounts for regular matches, but sometimes it doesn't trigger achievements when toggling Ironman mode if it was not patched correctly, this is probably due to changes in v4.0+.

The good part is that you could tackle a boring achievement along the way such as achievement "43 ━ Peacekeeper"; just protect the AI, become economically superior and then reach Victory Year. To be extra safe your empire could be pacifist as well and you may vassalize the other pacifist AI, they usually offer that themselves if your relative power is overwhelming compared to theirs; when vassalizing make sure you write in their contract that they are not allowed in any of your wars.

Hatch the Ether Dragon egg located in the Dragon's Hoard system. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Leviathan Spawns mod to your playthorugh (Reduces RNG Rating by 1).
  
• Your galaxy should be a small one (400 stars) or bigger.

Recommendation: At first, I really thought that this could be related to the Voidspawn hatchling that cracks its host planet while hatching. Once more the default achievement hint is not clear, because it is actually referring to the Ether Dragon's hatchling. Basically, all you have to do is defeat the Ether Drake found on Dragon's Hoard (a system which is not guaranteed to spawn unless you use the All Leviathan Spawns mod), claim and place mining stations around in that system. Hear me roar! Source: Vanilla events.

Then you just have to wait, the egg event could take up to 600 months to appear. Once it triggers, the egg can be smashed for 300 Influence or used in a timed special project that takes 50000 Society research to hatch a controllable Ether Hatchling with about 7K Fleet Power. Unlike the controllable Space Amoeba, the Ether Hatchling never grows to a full sized Ether Drake (unless you use a mod such as Dragon's Grow Up Redux). Hatching the egg awards this achievement.

Birth a new universe by peacefully completing the Infinity Sphere event, resulting in Gargantua transforming into Pantagruel. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Leviathan Spawns mod to your playthorugh. (Reduces RNG Rating by 1)
  
• Your galaxy should be a small one (400 stars) or bigger.

Recommendation: This achievement is straightforward, locate the Gargantua black hole (which is not guaranteed to spawn unless you use the All Leviathan Spawns mod), and when given the special project to approach the infinity orb, SAVE the game first and then complete it as soon as possible; the infinity calculation project requires a science vessel and 1800 days to be finished. Make sure you select any empire that is NOT a gestalt consciousness because the option to help the Orb with the infinity calculation is not available to gestalts. Source: Vanilla events.

After completing the project, there is a 25% it succeeds, if it does then the Infinity Sphere enters the black hole and shrinks it to a smaller size black hole renamed Pantagruel, which gains a 10 Research deposit in all areas and triggers the achievement. The empire gains 200 Influence and permanently gains the Mirror of Knowledge modifier, which grants +10% Research Speed. In addition, a Curator Enclave can be contacted and given some info for 500 Engineering Research.

If you were not successful in creating Pantagruel, then you have a back up save from before you spoke with the Technosphere for the first time as a safeguard. Simply load this saved game whenever you fail to get the secret at the end until you obtain it.

Defeat a horrifying invader (A randomly spawned Dimensional Horror). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Leviathan Spawns mod to your playthorugh. (Reduces RNG Rating by 1)
  
• Your galaxy should be a small one (400 stars) or bigger.

Recommendation: The objective is vanishing a randomly generated Dimensional Horror that is not The Elder One or The Worm. This Dimensional Horror is usually found in a random black hole system, which is not guaranteed unless you use the All Leviathan Spawns mod. Usually a 50k fleet is enough as long as is fully shielded because all of these D-horrors ignore armor. Make sure you use Kinetic weapons and use smaller ships as a screen to protect artillery ships. Source: Vanilla events.

Restore an ancient warship (Defeat the Automated Dreadnought and choose to repair it). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Leviathan Spawns mod to your playthorugh. (Reduces RNG Rating by 1)
  
• Your galaxy should be a small one (400 stars) or bigger.

Recommendation: A random system with two habitable worlds (which is not guaranteed unless you use the All Leviathan Spawns mod) may be defended by the Automated Dreadnought, an ancient warship of old locked in patrol mode. The Automated Dreadnought has a lot of plasma components and a Tachyon lance, which means is quite efficient at chewing armor and hull. Equip as many shields that you can and abuse the short range of plasma weapons by kiting with missile cruisers (M Swarmers + S Missiles + 3 afterburners + Artillery computer). Source: Vanilla events.

Once you defeat the Dreadnought, there is special project to repair and use it that costs 50000 Engineering research. The repaired Dreadnought has the same components but it loses any guardian bonuses from game difficulty. Its Jump Drive will be upgraded to a Psi Jump Drive[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] if the empire has the technology. Completing this special project awards this achievement.

Take a trophy from a stellar being (Defeat the Stellar Devourer and obtain the Devourer Egg Sac planetary modifier). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Leviathan Spawns mod to your playthorugh. (Reduces RNG Rating by 1)
  
• Your galaxy should be a small one (400 stars) or bigger.

Recommendation: A random unary star system (which is not guaranteed unless you use the All Leviathan Spawns mod) may appear empty on sensors but reveal the Stellar Devourer when entered, a glowing spaceborne entity that feeds upon stars. The Stellar Devourer's weapons are mostly energy and torpedoes, so shields and point defense are an effective counter. It has extremely high hull and point-defenses, but no armor or shields, making hull-damaging weapons such as plasma weapons and particle launchers the most effective counter. Source: Vanilla events.

After you have defeated it, pick the "Retrieve the egg sac" option and wait for the Leviathan Parade situation[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] to succeed. During the parade you will be offered option to take egg sac or try to reignite star. Choose to take egg sac to your capital and wait until the parade end. Once you get the trophy modifier in your capital, you will obtain the achievement.

Destroy a wraith. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Do not set mid-game year to 2225.
  
• Ideally set mid-game year to 2250 (or higher) in order to be prepared.
  
• Add All Leviathan Spawns mod to your playthorugh. (Reduces RNG Rating by 1)
  
• Your galaxy should be a small one (400 stars) or bigger.

Recommendation: The Spectral Wraith is a guardian that can only appear during the mid-game, though it is not guaranteed unless you use the All Leviathan Spawns mod. A random pulsar may reveal the unique Pulse Germination modifier when surveyed. Unlike other guardians, the Spectral Wraith has an unfathomable fascination for stepping on legos and subsequently die to random shenanigans; this is because it is completely mobile and can travel anywhere in the galaxy, including running into modded space critters, peeking into Fallen Empire's territory or dive into Crisis fleets or starbases. This is the reason why you need to search for it before mid-game. The first empire that surveys the pulsar is shown an event window pointing to the date when the mid-game starts and hinting that is the system where the Spectral Wraith spawns. Source: Vanilla events.

It spawns in one of three colors: red, yellow or blue. In systems whose star has the same color (M for red wraiths, G for yellow wraiths, and A or B for blue wraiths) the Spectral Wraith gains −50% Armor Armor and Evasion.png Evasion. Other star types do NOT trigger this debuff, even if the color mentioned in the star's description matches (e.g. Red Giants have no effect). It also does not trigger in binary or trinary systems. The guardian uses only energy weapons and armor and as a result should be engaged with shielded fleets utilizing energy weapons. The Spectral Wraith has high evasion without the aforementioned debuff. Simply defeating it awards the achievement.

Uncover the secrets of an ancient fortress (Enigmatic Fortress). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Leviathan Spawns mod to your playthorugh (Reduces RNG Rating by 1).
  
• Your galaxy should be a small one (400 stars) or bigger.

Recommendation: A random system with a class A star (which is not guaranteed to spawn unless you use the All Leviathan Spawns mod) may house the Enigmatic Fortress, a massive space station guarded by numerous unique defense platforms. The Enigmatic Fortress uses regular kinetic components and can be countered by equipping mostly armor and penetration weapons. Source: Vanilla events.

Defeating the Enigmatic Fortress starts a lengthy event chain that must be completed to gain its rewards. Letting the timer expire at any point results in the Fortress repowering, thus requiring it to be defeated again. Here are the choices you must select to successfully get the achievement:

1. Demolitions Team (but you lose the army) OR Local Power Surge – Lower estimate.
   
2. Rearrange the metal tori on the poles
   
3. Home System Research – The middle, Supply Dark Matter OR Black Hole Research.

Successfully investigating the Enigmatic Fortress grants 1000-5000 Research across all fields, unlocks the Enigmatic Encoder and Enigmatic Decoder technologies (which are the best end game components in the game) and awards this achievement.

Support the Artisan Troupe for MORE than 10 years. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Become a patron of an Artisan Troupe[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] enclave (they are located in a randomly generated system) and wait 10 years for the initial energy credits payment to expire, after renewing a second time you should obtain the achievement.

Recruit a scientist from the Curators. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Recruit a scientist from the Curator Order[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] enclave (they are located in a randomly generated system) after having developed sufficient opinion with them to do so. This is something that you should do in most games regardless, because having a Head of Research + Curator council positions will always put you ahead of the curve (technologically speaking).

Purchase a rare resource from the Traders. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Simply purchase any resource from one of the three trader enclaves[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Going for the cheapest option works fine. You'll always find one of these enclaves somewhere in the galaxy and you'll naturally earn this achievement. Skip to the next achievement.

Destroy an enclave. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: While enclaves never become hostile to any empire except in retaliation, they can be attacked like any neutral entity and various rewards can be salvaged[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] from their remnants, depending on the type of enclave destroyed. If an enclave is attacked it will cancel all ongoing deals with the attacking empire. Furthermore, if the enclave is destroyed it will cancel all ongoing deals with all empires and grants this achievement. This is a list of applicable enclaves. Keep in mind that destroying modded enclaves (e.g More Enclaves mod) do not count towards this achievement. Source: PDX snippet.

Lead the non-aligned powers to victory against Awakened Fallen empires during the War In Heaven. Optimal Settings:

• Ideally, play in a Medium galaxy (600 Stars).
  
• No regular AI empires.
  
• Max primitives (x5).
  
• Between Rare and up to x0.5 habitable planets.
  
• 2 Guaranteed Habitable worlds.
  
• Add all allowed Fallen empires based on your Galaxy size.
  
• Restart your Galaxy until you get a Spiritualist Fallen Empire (verify in Observer Mode).
  
• Endgame date set at 2275 or 2300.
  
• Set Voidworms and Marauder empires to 0.
  
• Deactivate L-Gates.
  
• Set gateways to max (5x).
  
• Set Crisis as Cetana (optional).
  
• Technology Cost Based on Difficulty setting set to none.
  
• 0.25x Tech and Tradition Cost.
  
• Add Guaranteed War in Heaven to your mod list (Reduces RNG Rating by 3).
  
• Add Fleets Win Wars to your mod list to finish conflicts in a more sensical way.
  
• Add any mod with G.O.A.T. status 🐐 previously mentioned in this guide.

Recommendation: Winning this achievement could become quite a chaotic endeavor, nevertheless by using the above optimal settings you will mitigate some unexpected scenarios. The objective is defeating both awakened empires while they are in the middle of a War In Heaven and your empire is leading the Non-Aligned Powers federation. The event has a 60% chance is triggered during endgame; to be more specific, there is a 40% chance that there is a War in Heaven with Fallen empires of opposing ethos, there is a 20% chance that there is a War in Heaven with Fallen empires of different ethos, and lastly there is a 40% chance there is no war in heaven at all. Heck, RNG strikes once more!

Fallen Empire rivalry combinations are:
• Xenophobe vs. Xenophile
  
• Materialist vs. Spiritualist
  
• Fallen Warmonger Hive (with Hyper-aggressive Drones civic) vs. Xenophobe
  
• Fallen Mind-control Hive (with Stunted Drones civic) vs. Xenophile.
  
• Any previous one vs. a Non-machine different ethos Fallen Empire.

Let's not forget that there is a 0% chance to trigger anything if a prospective Fallen Empire rival becomes an Ancient Protector (Guardian of the Galaxy); this may happen only if an end-game Crisis or the Grey Tempest takes place, which is why we want to turn off any end-game Crisis and disable L-gates spawning for this achievement. If everything is triggered correctly and after the War In Heaven starts, all empires would be given some options regarding their diplomatic posture; the correct option is to NOT take any sides. Shortly after, the most powerful empire will be given the option to become the leader of the Non-aligned Powers; the game checks empire power in this order: Galactic Custodian > Federation leaders > Anyone else. Therefore, your safest bet is becoming the Galactic Custodian or if there is not enough time to appoint a custodian, then just become the strongest federation leader.

You must select to NOT take sides in the conflict. Source: MJWITHER Youtube channel.

It is advisable to be the leader of a federation before this conflict starts since friendly AIs inside your federation would follow your lead once the federation transforms into the Non-aligned Powers. For anyone else outside, they will join either side of the conflict depending on relative power, homicidal tendencies or how close their empires are to the Awakened Fallen Empire's borders. Given that a lot of empires with distinct ethos are forced into the Non-aligned Powers federation, it is also plausible you may indirectly earn achievement "113 ━ Opposites Attract".

By the way... Did you know that you can trigger all of these events early on? All you need is a World Cracker Colossus and the nearest Spiritualist Fallen Empire's Holy World[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. While hunting for this achievement, I can clearly remember my cynical militarist empire just replied "It was tactical, not personal." after cracking that world. Holy hell, literally and figuratively — I thought to myself; that empire clearly didn't give a ♥♥♥♥ and worst of all they were indeed correct, it was the best tactical move!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1741028462

Fragging a Holy World awakens spiritualist Fallen empires immediately; since my militarist empire was ready to take on this War of Heaven on 2250, by obliterating that world I didn't have to wait another 25 years or more for the end-game. Though if you plan to do this as well, it is important to keep in mind that the spiritualist Fallen Empire will declare war on you right away. Which is fine, thankfully it is an Humiliation war and not a Total Obliteration war; remember to not destroy the Fallen Empire, just partially crush their fleets and avoid making territorial claims as that reduces their willingness to surrender or reach status quo. If you want an extra challenge, remember that if you are an angler[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] empire, winning this Humiliation war also grants achievement "150 ━ Fishing for Trouble".

There are some good strategies to deal with any Fallen Empire:
• Make sure you select the Galactic Contender [stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk to increase your damage output against any Fallen empires.
  
• Fortify border chokepoints, create Fortress worlds with FTL-inhibitors and planetary shields. That way their fleets will have to bombard it for a good while while you regroup.
  
• Your main fleets should be balanced and have a mix of carrier modules, point defense modules and shield or amor hardening attachments.
  
• Your support fleets should have lots of evasion and serve as a screen for bigger ships.
  
• Support fleets should engage first, ideally at point blank at hyperlane entry/exit points.
  
• Catch Fallen Empire transports out of position,
  
• Liberate the worlds they conquer to force them to turn back.
  
• Intercept their reinforcements and research the debris.
  
• Retrofit ships with newly discovered Dark Matter technology from the debris.
  
• If Cetana appears you may let her handle the awakened empires by herself.

During the War In Heaven claiming or obliterating worlds are all valid strategies; just keep in mind that owning Fallen Empire worlds and having more population is always going to give your empire an advantage, though if that doesn't matter or if you have trouble with a Fallen Empire, erasing their planets with a Colossus while they are distracted could work as well. Prioritize the Awakened Fallen Empire with the biggest backup (with the most aligned AI empires), crushing that Fallen Empire first will grant some breathing room for your allies and will mitigate random small scale attacks on your territory. Dealing the finishing blow to the second Awakened Fallen Empire grants you the achievement.

Have a ring world section as your capital without using the Shattered Ring Origin. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add L-Cluster Plus to your mod list (Decreases Difficulty Level by 1).

Recommendation: Do not listen to the Stellaris Wiki for this one; using the Shattered Ring Origin does NOT grant the achievement, thus my recommendation here is to just go with any empire with a different Origin. If you are a wiki editor reading this, erase the following inaccurate advice:

Originally posted by Stellaris Wiki:

If the Federations DLC is installed, it can be obtained easiest via the Shattered Ring origin. Repairing the homeworld segment will not grant the achievement, but repairing one of the other segments and moving the capital there will.

Wiki's inaccuracies aside, the actual way to obtain this achievement is to either build a ring world after obtaining the required tech[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] or conquer a ringworld from an AI empire (regular or Fallen empire). After doing that, open the planet management screen from your brand new ring world segment and move your capital there (it requires 200 influence). Alternatively, you could use the L-Cluster Plus mod. The advanced origin from L-Cluster Plus gives you a ringworld from the start, which means that this mod could help you obtain this achievement instantly.

As an authoritarian Empire with at least 50,000 Pops, have at least 20,000 enslaved Pops. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may increase Pop Growth bonuses from Galaxy creation.
  
• Add 3 or 4 AIs to conquer later once they have enough population.

Recommendation: You'll naturally earn this achievement while playing as an authoritarian empire. The idea here is allowing the AI to develop a bit, then spy on them until you get enough information about their total population. Strike any AIs when you can easily snatch a few planets worth twenty thousand slaves or more.

Alternatively, you may use the Farming AI trick; it would not matter what type of empire you go with (it could even be an empire more suitable for other achievements). Given enough time, you may swap empires in multiplayer and select the most powerful authoritarian AI. If the AI has the required amount of pops, you'll also trigger the achievement once you unpause the multiplayer match.

As a xenophobic empire, purge all other sentient species capable of expanding their territory at any time in the galaxy. Optimal Settings:

• No empires
  
• No primitives
  
• No Marauders
  
• No Fallen Empires
  
• Maybe add 1 other empire to purge, if you are bored.

Recommendation: You will automatically obtain the achievement if you start a game with no other empires (set number of AI empires, Fallen Empires, primitives, and Marauders to 0). Make sure that only your main species (or any modified variants) prevail within your borders. That means that no robotic servants or distinct species slaves are allowed for this achievement.

It is also important to note that if your main species become synthetics (individualist xenophobic robots), you may complete achievement "066 ━ Rise of the Machines" in parallel. This is because both achievements share similar objectives, though the latter (66th) achievement is more lenient since it allows marauders and other robotic empires to live.

Own a planet with at least 10 different species on it. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may sprinkle your galaxy with a few Xenophile empires if needed.

Recommendation: This sounds like a good Xenophile empire achievement, though it is not restricted to any specific ethos. The game script only checks if a planet has more than 9 distinct species. Hence, this can be accomplished through a variety of fundamental tactics, such as immigration treaties, conquest, pre-sapient uplifting, events that grant new species, primitive enlightenment, nihilistic acquisition, accepting refugees, and/or among many other ways.

As a materialist empire, have at least 75% of the pops in your empire be robotic in an empire with at least 20,000 pops (robots are different than individual mechanical empires). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You could use the same settings as achievement "139 ━ Machine Supremacy"
  
• Set any Pop Growth setting to default (DO NOT INCREASE IT).
  
• Add mods that can help you with robot pop assembly like some Tradition mods out there.

Recommendation: Out of all ethic-related achievements, this could be the hardest one. First and foremost it would be highly unlikely to see AI empires with more robots than organics, if the latter is the main species in that empire; it is not really something that an AI would mechanically do on its own. Therefore, you can't rely on the the Multiplayer Trick swap for this one.

Ideally you want a materialist empire with the Mechanist[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin. Pick a race with low pop growth traits (the Polyploid trait from the Xenology: Biological Module mod is great for this) or just pick Lithoids which naturally have a pop growth debuff. Having a pop growth debuff is rough in early game, but the point is prioritizing the robot population assembly speed to trigger the required conditions for this achievement. With that said, this objective synergizes quite well with achievement "139 ━ Machine Supremacy" and you can earn both achievements in parallel.

Do not build gene clinics or use regular biological pop growth bonuses like those from Nutritional Plenitude[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Make sure you modify your robots with pop assembly traits as soon as your tech output allows it. Remember that there are Tradition mods such as Expanded Stellaris Traditions that can help increasing robot assembly without the need of synthetically ascending.

As a pacifistic empire, be at peace for 200 consecutive years (crises do not count as wars). Optimal Settings:

• You could use the same settings as achievement "25 ━ Victorious".
  
• You may add only 1 regular pacifist empire.
  
• Set Victory Year to 2400
  
• No Fallen Empires if you struggle against them.
  
• No Pre-FTLs to avoid simulation lag if they randomly reach the stars.
  
• Habitable planets set to Rare to avoid simulation lag as much as possible.
  
• Guaranteed planets to 2.

Recommendation: It is highly advisable that you tackle achievement "25 ━ Victorious" (refer to the the appropriate guide section) in tandem with this achievement. Just protect the AI, become economically superior and then reach Victory Year. To be extra safe your empire could be pacifist as well and you may vassalize the other pacifist AI, they usually offer that themselves if your relative power is overwhelming compared to them; when vassalizing make sure you write in their contract that they are not allowed in any of your wars.

Worse case scenario if an Empire such as The Chosen appears, engage them in war but do not let them declare war on your vassal, remember that your vassal would still be capable of earning the achievement if it was not involved in any war after 200 years. Then you can use the Multiplayer Trick and swap over to your vassal to earn the achievement after unpausing the multiplayer game.

As a xenophilic empire, have migration treaties with at least 10 other empires. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may sprinkle your galaxy with a few Xenophile empires if needed.
  
• You may add any amount of primitives as needed.

Recommendation: This one is fairly easy. It is usually obtained naturally during a Xenophile and/or Megacorp run; once you start the game, crew as many science ships as possible and attempt to meet all the other empires. The sooner you get to meet them, the sooner you'll earn enough trust for migration treaties. If there are not enough empires interested in diplomatic agreements, you could use the Release Vassal trick until you get the right amount of empires.

Alternatively, you may use the Farming AI trick; it would not matter what type of empire you go with (it could even be an empire more suitable for other achievements). Given enough time, you may swap empires in multiplayer and select the most powerful xenophilic AI. If the AI has the required amount of friends and migration treaties, you'll also trigger the achievement once you unpause the multiplayer match. Even if they don't have enough treaties, you may trigger the achievement if you push that AI empire in the right track.

As a spiritualistic empire, own 4 holy worlds. (4 Fallen Empire's holy systems with Gaia worlds?) Optimal Settings:

• DO NOT add Planetary Diversity to your mod list because it conflicts with this achievement.
  
• Add Guaranteed Paragons to your mod list to guarantee Paragon Azaryn.
  
• Set the Habitable Worlds sliders at x1.25 or above.
  
• If you add too many habitable worlds just reduce AIs to 0.
  
• Add as many Fallen empires your Galaxy size of choice allows.

Recommendation: Let me lay some foundations here; this achievement is about snatching all four sacred Gaia worlds from a Fallen Empire. In case you are wondering, creating your own Gaia worlds with the Consecrated Worlds[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk does not count. You may use the Multiplayer Observer trick to check if the Spiritualist Fallen Empire spawned and if all FE's Holy Worlds are present in the galaxy. Don't forget that solar systems are not named after the Holy World they may contain. Furthermore, these holy planets generally spawn outside of the FE's territory. Though, if you are unlucky these may spawn inside the FE's borders.

List of FE worlds with the Holy World[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] modifier:
• Prophets Retreat
  
• Walled Garden
  
• Emerald Mausoleum
  
• Pristine Jewel

With the Federations DLC, you can start with the Scion[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Origin and colonize any Holy Worlds from the start. For anyone else, you may use the Ancient Relics DLC; this way you can obtain the Head of Zarqlan[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] relic and gain the ability to colonize Holy Worlds without repercussions. Otherwise, become strong enough to win a war against a Fallen Empire before colonizing Holy Worlds, or simply colonize all 4 worlds at the same time. It is advisable to do it before the end-game starts, because a dormant Fallen Empire is much easier to defeat. Once all Gaia worlds are colonized, you'll earn the achievement. Interestingly enough, the game looks for "holy" systems and not planets. Source: PDX snippet.

The game searches for a holy system flag rather than a holy planet flag; this means you may theoretically own ANY Gaia world located in the same system where holy worlds spawn. If this holds true, then you can still get the achievement even if these Gaia worlds aren't one of the pre-established holy worlds. If I had known this beforehand, I would have avoided having to restart my initial playthrough to earn this achievement. That run failed because my habitable planets setting was configured too low, which caused some holy worlds to spawn as shattered worlds.

It is important to disclose that the holy system vs. Holy World advice hasn't been tested, because I theorized about this after earning the achievement. Though, if you run into such a situation, you may order Azaryn[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] to terraform one non-holy world into a Gaia world within each holy system that may have shattered holy worlds. Further, in light of the aforementioned, I strongly advise using the Guaranteed Paragons mod to make sure Azaryn is always available as a safeguard for this situation.

Have your ruler be of a different species class than your founding species. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may add 1 Xenophile empire as a backup plan.

Recommendation: Make sure that you don't use Imperial authority, Gestalt or Xenophobe empires. Instead, you may use Democratic, Corporate, Xenophile or Oligarchic governments. Once an election occurs, vote and support a ruler from a different species; remember that manually voting for your preferred candidate costs Unity. Suitable leaders may come from different places, such as:

• Paragon recruitment[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]
  
• Enclaves[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]
  
• Conquered planets
  
• Migration
  
• Events

Receive a gift from a Fallen Empire in the Enigmatic or Patronizing diplomatic posture. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add as many Fallen empires your Galaxy size of choice allows.
  
• Restart your Galaxy until you get a suitable Fallen Empire (verify in Observer Mode).

Recommendation: You need to meet a Fallen Empire and then accept their demands; ethically aligning with them helps out as well. Once the Fallen Empire is either in an Enigmatic or Patronizing diplomatic posture, you may receive a gift from them. It is important to point out that Xenophile and Materialist FEs are easier to pamper. Though, there are two more FEs that are allowed to send gifts.

Fallen Empires capable of sending gifts to nascent civilizations:
• Fanatic Spiritualist
  
• Fanatic Xenophile
  
• Fanatic Materialist
  
• Machine Empire

Open up a Fallen Empire's shielded world. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Increase Hyperlane Density to avoid the need of Jump Drives.
  
• Add as many Fallen empires your Galaxy size of choice allows.
  
• Restart your Galaxy until you get a Xenophobe Fallen Empire (verify in Observer Mode).

Recommendation: Modded and vanilla events may involve shielded worlds. However, only a Xenophobe Fallen Empire's shielded worlds count towards this achievement. That is because only Xenophobe FEs are the only FEs that may spawn with shielded worlds in their territory. You don't need to own the system to complete the achievement, since completing the special project with a science ship is enough. You may use the Multiplayer Observer trick to check if the Xenophobe Fallen Empire spawned and if a shield world is present in their territory. There is some misinformation out there that other shielded worlds not related to a FE may trigger the achievement, that is clearly false. Source: PDX snippet.

Sometimes, a shielded world may spawn in an FE's system without a Citadel; that would be your best-case scenario. FE's Citadels are often equipped with detection arrays that would reveal cloaked science ships upon entering the system; if you are unlucky and the only shielded world is in a well-protected system, you'll be forced to secure the system instead of simply opting for stealth. While forcing your way through, winning the war is not a priority. Instead, keep the Fallen Empire's forces distracted for as long as your scientist is working on that special project. Once you turn off the shield, you will earn the achievement.

Source: Vanilla events.

Enlighten a Bronze or Stone age civilization (Help them reach the stars). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Set Pre-FTL settings to Max (5x); this reduces RNG Rating by 2.

Recommendation: Even at five times the amount of primitive civilizations, you may have to search for a bit for a civilization in the right era (Bronze or Stone age). Bronze stage civilizations are preferred due to the fact that technological enlightenment would be shorter than those in Stone Age. Once you have located the right civilization, build an observation station in orbit.

At first, I thought this had to be done covertly, however you will need to reveal yourself to the pre-FTL civ in order for this to work. There is an espionage action to raise awareness of your meddling, which it is something you have to raise up until you reach High Awareness (or Full Awareness) to avoid a cultural stellar shock and later on reveal yourself.

One of the agreements you can make with the pre-FTL civilization after disclosing yourself is to provide technology. They won't agree at first, but you can designate an ambassador (envoy) to strengthen ties. This will take a lot longer if they have suffered a stellar shock mentioned earlier, hence is why we want to avoid revealing ourselves at Low Awareness. The Provide Technology agreement must be made when they are in the Bronze Age (or Stone Age) and maintained until they become enlightened to get the achievement.

From here, you may expedite this process by:
• Randomly getting the event "Ladders in the Sky".
  
• Using the espionage action to provide technology.
  
• Enact Galcom's laws that will accelerate their advancement.
  
• Selecting a Tradition or an Ascension Perk that grants you faster infiltration.
  
• Randomly getting the event "Mad Scientist", which may skip two tech stages on average.

Make sure you save your game often to avoid negative outcomes. Source: Vanilla events.

As a humanoid species, infiltrate the homeworld of pre-FTL reptilians. Integrate them to your empire via espionage. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Set Pre-FTL settings to Max (5x); this reduces RNG Rating by 1.

Recommendation: Because this achievement requires a humanoid species, you may try completing this while hunting for achievement "142 ━ Destroy the People of Earth!", which also makes sense for humans thematically speaking. The Commonwealth of Man vs. wannabe reptilian overlords sounds like a plausible IRL Stellaris canonical event.

I've tried obtaining information on this achievement from different sources. However, searching for tips on this old achievement is increasingly more difficult nowadays, because we now have the achievement "155 ━ With Interest" related to the Payback origin. Regardless, the Payback achievement (50th achievement) is not just about sending a spy to a Reptilian Pre-FTL civilization, you'll also have to annex them via espionage operations that require a high infiltration score (40+).

The worst-case scenario is if you find a reptilian hive mind, which individualist human empires cannot infiltrate (only other hive minds can). On the other hand, in the best-case scenario, you may find a reptilian civilization in either the atomic or early-space age. Remember that you may annex pre-FTL governments only during their early space age. Additionally, don't forget that this requires an intel score of 40 or more, though a score of 50 is preferred in case a negative event happens and you can withstand it without aborting the espionage mission.

Terraform a planet into a Gaia world. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Do not use the AI Farming trick, the script restricts AI from obtaining this.
  
• DO NOT add Planetary Diversity to your mod list because it conflicts with this achievement.

Recommendation: This one is quite easy, simply select the World Shaper[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk whenever you can, and terraform any planet into a Gaia world. Alternatively, you may use the Guaranteed Paragons mod and let Azaryn transform planets into Gaia worlds.

Find the home system of a precursor empire. Either Vultaum, Yuht, First League, Irassian Traders or Cybrex home stars count towards this achievement. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Select the Cybrex precursor at Galaxy Creation.

Recommendation: Not all current in-game precursors are valid for this old achievement. Most importantly, there are precursor quests that are more straightforward and easier to complete. In this case, I'd recommend the Cybrex[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]; just look out for level VIII anomalies and complete them as fast as possible. Some special projects will pop up along the way; investigate those as well. Once you reach the Cybrex homeworld system (easily recognizable by its shattered Ringworld), you'll earn the achievement. Valid precursor home systems for this achievement. Source: PDX snippet.

Invade pre-FTL Earth while it is in the midst of a world war. (Only possible if Earth spawns during the Machine Age) Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Set Hyperlane Density to max.
  
• Pick up your Heavy Machinegun.
  
• A tiny ring Galaxy is recommended.
  
• Neither regular AIs nor your own empire should have Sol as a starting system.
  
• Probably set primitives to max, though this might not affect Earth spawn chances.
  
• Theoretically, more habitable planets would improve your chances of finding Earth.

Recommendation: The original hint might be vague but the objective is clear. Invade Earth, which is found in the Sol system, while it is in the Machine Age and amidst a World War. Earth must spawn already in the Machine Age, and must not reach it via events or progress over time. The reason behind this (which the wiki fails to explain) is that pre-FTL armies from actual countries (i.e. Japan, Germany, Russia, US and Britain) only appear from the solar initializer if you roll pre-FTL Earth from the beginning.

I remember a few years ago when someone was advising on how to spawn Earth in Stellaris, they mentioned that Earth only spawns if your galaxy has three or four arms, and it had to be medium size or larger. Obviously, after getting all achievements it is clear that particular advice was utter ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. They were probably thinking about Spore: Galactic Adventures while giving that advice or maybe they were just messing around.

Earth! Source: Zeddy

Sol has a 50% chance to spawn regardless of galaxy size if no empires have it as its starting system, consequently it is recommended that a tiny galaxy be used to make it easier to find and claim the Sol system. If it spawns, it has a 25% chance of being at the correct era for this achievement, for a total chance of 12.5% on every galaxy roll. Therefore, using the multiplayer observer trick is key to help you earn this achievement without much hassle.

Once you locate Sol, make a bee line towards Earth, you may use a mod such as Jump Drive Ascension to get there faster. You need a transport ship, a construction ship and a science ship. Scan the system and build an observation post as soon as possible. Then save your game right after building the observation post; invade Earth as soon as possible (just in case). If you do not get the achievement after a successful invasion, then reload your save and try later, but this time wait for an event pop up regarding Earth entering a world war; claiming Earth by defeating: the British Armed Forces, the German Wehrmacht, the Imperial Japanese Forces, the Soviet Red Army and US Armed Forces grants the achievement.

Return a long-dead species to life (Limbo event chain). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Restart your Galaxy until you get a Xenophile Fallen Empire (verify in Observer Mode).

Recommendation: There are two ways to obtain this, the first one is to complete the In Limbo[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] special project after having researched synths[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]; the second option is to complete the Limbo event chain prior to accepting an Enigmatic Observers (xenophilic) Fallen Empire's relevant request to use your empire's stored databank to upload it to their preserve. Source: Vanilla events.

I would recommend prioritizing the first option while playing as a materialist empire, because you have more control over the outcome and no time limit. Keep an eye out for the "On the Barren Plains" anomaly, which is the one that reveals the "In Limbo" special project. Complete the special project only after researching synths. Once that is done you'll be given the next special project "Limbo: A Second Chance", which will trigger the achievement after finishing it.

Close the loop, or don't (Horizon Signal[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] event chain). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may use the On The Precipice - Horizon Signal Origin mod (Reduces RNG Rating by 2).

Recommendation: The difficulty lies in having the Horizon Signal event spawn ━ there is a 20% chance at the start of each game that a random black hole in the galaxy will contain the beginning of the event chain. Personally, since I was aiming for all achievements anyways, this RNG wasn't a big deal for me and I got the Horizon Signal at least three times. Though, if the laws of probability are not in your favor (which is understandable and bound to happen for some of us), you may use the On The Precipice - Horizon Signal Origin mod to guarantee the event chain.
Fight against the lovely Horizon worm. Source: What was will be myself

Following the events is fairly straightforward, you'll have to sacrifice a few leaders, unlock the Omega tech and build the Omega Alignment[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] in your capital. However, I would like to give y'all a fair warning first, defeating the Worm (which is objectively more difficult and gives you the best reward[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]) DID NOT trigger the achievement for me. Maybe this used to work properly when it was released, thus the only way is to submit to the Worm's demands (accept the Worm's offer) near the end of the quest.

Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Olbers you did a superb job! Source: PDX snippet.

Issues with the achievement triggers aside; this event chain is the top percentage Bidoof, it is is the G.O.A.T. of all Stellaris quests, to its core ━ it is peak science fiction, and it is definitely going to be memorable enough when I look back on this game in the future. The gameplay here is intertwined with the narrative in such a spectacular way that made me wonder why Eladrin is the game director and not one of these guys.

Construct a complete Dyson Sphere (repairing an existing one does not count). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add a Megastructure mod to enhance your experience. E.g. Gigastructural Engineering, Orbital Economy Overhaul or ! Age of Wonder.
  
• Add a mod that grants you megastructures building speed or lower costs. E.g. Ascension Perks Broadened or Reworked Advanced Ascension.

Recommendation: It is important to note that repairing a random ruined Dyson Sphere doesn't give you the achievement, this is because the game doesn't look for "dyson_sphere_restored". No idea why is that! It is not even hard to implement, ffs PDX. Source: PDX snippet.

Don't forget that you need the tech to unlock this megastructure, which is only obtainable by unlocking the Galactic Wonders[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk. Remember to activate the Architectural Renaissance Unity Ambition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Lastly, progress in this achievement counts towards the "093 ━ Giga Engineering" achievement.

Construct a complete Ring World (repairing an existing one does not count). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add a Megastructure mod to enhance your experience. E.g. Gigastructural Engineering, Orbital Economy Overhaul or ! Age of Wonder.
  
• Add a mod that grants you megastructures building speed or lower costs. E.g. Ascension Perks Broadened or Reworked Advanced Ascension.

Recommendation: To obtain this achievement you need to either build a ringworld after obtaining the required tech[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] or conquer an incomplete ringworld from an AI empire and then finish its construction. Remember that repairing ruined or shattered ringworlds do not count towards this achievement, this is because the game doesn't look for "ring_world_restored" (or.similar) . No idea why is that! It is not even hard to implement, ffs PDX. The more I look at this; the more I understand why restored megas are out. Source: PDX snippet.

The tech to build this megastructure is only obtainable by unlocking the Galactic Wonders[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk. Remember to activate the Architectural Renaissance Unity Ambition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Lastly, progress in this achievement counts towards the "093 ━ Giga Engineering" achievement.

Construct a complete Sentry Array (repairing one with a guitar solo does not count). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add a Megastructure mod to enhance your experience. E.g. Gigastructural Engineering, Orbital Economy Overhaul or ! Age of Wonder.
  
• Add a mod that grants you megastructures building speed or lower costs. E.g. Ascension Perks Broadened or Reworked Advanced Ascension.

Recommendation: It is important to note that repairing a random ruined Sentry Array doesn't give you the achievement, this is because the game doesn't look for "spy_orb_restored". No idea why is that! It is not even hard to implement, ffs PDX. Source: PDX snippet.

Don't forget that you need the tech[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] to unlock this megastructure, which is only obtainable by unlocking the Mega-Engineering[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] tech. Remember to activate the Architectural Renaissance Unity Ambition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Lastly, progress in this achievement counts towards the "093 ━ Giga Engineering" achievement.

Construct a complete Science Nexus (repairing an existing one does not count). Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: It is important to note that repairing a random ruined Science Nexus doesn't give you the achievement, this is because the game doesn't look for "think_tank_restored". No idea why is that! It is not even hard to implement, ffs PDX. Source: PDX snippet.

Don't forget that you need the tech[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] to unlock this megastructure, which is only obtainable by unlocking the Mega-Engineering[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] tech. Remember to activate the Architectural Renaissance Unity Ambition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Lastly, progress in this achievement counts towards the "093 ━ Giga Engineering" achievement.

Breach the Shroud (Psionic ascension). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may sprinkle a few spiritualist empires in your Galaxy.

Recommendation: You can earn this achievement naturally with any psionic-capable empire, such as those with the Teachers of The Shroud[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin (do not select a materialist empire if possible); in fact. you may allow the AI to earn this with the Farming AI trick if you haven't earned it already. Skip to the next achievement.

Evolve into perfect, immortal machines (Synthetic ascension). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may sprinkle a few non-materialist and non-spiritualist empires in your Galaxy.

Recommendation: You can earn this achievement naturally artificially with any materialist empire, such as those with the Synthetic Fertility[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin (do not select a spiritualist empire if possible); in fact, you may allow the AI to earn this with the Farming AI trick if you haven't earned it already. Skip to the next achievement.

Own a species with traits worth 7 points or more (Biological ascension). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may sprinkle a few non-materialist and non-spiritualist empires in your Galaxy.

Recommendation: This one doesn't require you to follow the Biological[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] path, as long as you are able to obtain any species group with more than 6 genetic points within your empire. Consequently, this aligns quite well with xenophilic achievements such as "041 ━ Tourist Trap" and "046 ━ Omnicultural" respectively, thus refer to any tricks used for those achievements.

Build a Habitat station in a Black Hole system. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: I'm not quite sure why the Wiki mentions that this achievement does not trigger on stars that were turned into black holes by events. Maybe the Wiki is referring to systems that graphically look like black holes but are not classified as such (sc_black_hole star class). In any case, finding a black hole system is not hard and habitats are easy to obtain. If you want to rush a bit, you may use the Void Dwellers[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Origin. Regardless on how you do it, you'll get the achievement once you own any habitat in a black hole system.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3622074684

As an Egalitarian empire, have at least 50,000 pops living under Utopian living conditions in your empire. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may increase Pop Growth bonuses from Galaxy creation.

Recommendation: As I already mentioned in the "Mod Advice ━ Civic-only Mods" section, remember that ethically aligning as egalitarian is a hard requirement for this achievement; you won't earn the achievement without an egalitarian empire even if you find a workaround that allows you to select Utopian Abundance without necessarily playing as egalitarian (e.g. War of Wreaths mod).

With that said, if reaching reaching fifty thousand pops sounds tedious, you may use the Farming AI trick; it would not matter what type of empire you go with (it could even be an empire more suitable for other achievements). Given enough time, you may swap empires in multiplayer and select the most powerful egalitarian AI. If the AI has the required amount of pops (which more than likely would be under an Utopian Abundance), you'll also trigger the achievement once you unpause the multiplayer match.

Keep at least 5 different species as livestock in your Empire. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Max primitives (x5); reduces RNG Rating by 1.

Recommendation: Make sure you are not going an homicidal empire. Instead, by selecting and authoritarian + xenophobic empire you should be able to not only have slaves but also eat them. Start by conquering a few Pre-FTL empires or snatch their population with the Nihilistic Acquisition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk. Once you have five different species with the Livestock Living Standard, you'll earn the achievement.

As a Determined Exterminator machine (individualist or gestalt), conquer or eliminate all biological Empires in the galaxy. Optimal Settings:

• You could use the same settings as achievement "040 ━ Suffer not the Alien"
  
• No empires
  
• No primitives
  
• No Marauders
  
• No Fallen Empires
  
• Maybe add 1 materialist empire to purge if they don't become robots.

Recommendation: Another misleading PDX achievement hint... You don't need to be a Determined Exterminator empire to earn this achievement, in fact you may earn this achievement almost the same way you obtain achievement "040 ━ Suffer not the Alien". This means you will automatically obtain the achievement if you start a game with no other empires (set number of AI empires, Fallen Empires, primitives, and Marauders to 0); the only difference is your main species must be gestalt machines or individualist robots.

Furthermore, you may start the game as an organic xenophobic empire. Once your main species become synthetics (individualist xenophobic robots) and organic empires (regular or Fallen) are purged from the Galaxy you'll earn the 40th and 66th achievement in parallel. This is because both achievements share similar objectives, though this achievement (66th) is more lenient since it allows marauders and other robotic empires to live.

As a Driven Assimilator (machine empire), own cyborg Pops of at least 5 different species. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Max primitives (x5); reduces RNG Rating by 1.

Recommendation: There are different ways to accomplish this. However, the easiest way is to simply invade and assimilate four Pre-FTL civilizations. If you are wondering if there is any influence (resource) constraint here, well ━ let me tell your that the good news are that you don't necessarily have to conquer those primitives. Simply using the Nihilistic Acquisition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] AP is more than enough.

As a Rogue Servitor, own at least 1000 (Organic) Pops from Fallen Empires. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may push the endgame date a little bit to avoid any Fallen Empire awakening.

Recommendation: Some achievements like this one become easier if you deactivate certain DLC, in this case the Biogenesis DLC to forbid the Hive Fallen Empire from spawning. In case you are not familiar with that FE, this is because it is more difficult to acquire their population since you'll declare war on three Fallen empires (Hive Fragments) at the same time. Regardless, you don't necessarily have to restart your Galaxy if you see a Hive Fallen Empire, since their population also counts towards this achievement.

There are some good strategies to deal with any Fallen Empire:
• Make sure you select the Galactic Contender Ascension Perk[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] to increase your damage output against any Fallen empires.
  
• Fortify border chokepoints, create Fortress worlds with FTL-inhibitors and planetary shields. That way their fleets will have to bombard it for a good while while you regroup.
  
• Your main fleets should be balanced and have a mix of carrier modules, point defense modules and shield or amor hardening attachments.
  
• Your support fleets should have lots of evasion and serve as a screen for bigger ships.
  
• Support fleets should engage first, ideally at point blank at hyperlane entry/exit points.
  
• Catch Fallen Empire transports out of position,
  
• Liberate the worlds they conquer to force them to turn back.
  
• Intercept their reinforcements and research the debris.
  
• Retrofit ships with newly discovered Dark Matter technology from the debris.

For those detail-oriented out there, the game looks for a species flag called "organic_fallen_empire_pop" and checks if you own more than 1000 of these pops in any order. Therefore, you may invade any Fallen Empire except for Machine FEs for this achievement. Heck, if you want to speedrun it, you may even invade multiple FEs at the same time and just take their pops with the Nihilistic Acquisition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk; there is no need to grab their planets. Once you have snatched enough pops you'll be granted this achievement.

Shut down the Contingency plan. Optimal Settings:

• You could use the same settings as achievement "024 ━ Voight Kampff"
  
• Ideally, play in a Tiny galaxy (200 Stars).
  
• No primitives unless you find Primitive Insights[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] useful.
  
• Between x0.25 and x0.5 habitable planets.
  
• 2 Guaranteed Habitable worlds.
  
• Add a single Fallen Empire.
  
• Endgame date set at 2275 or 2300.
  
• Set Voidworms and Marauder empires to 0
  
• Deactivate L-Gates
  
• Set gateways to max (5x).
  
• Set natural wormholes to 0x if you struggle defending them.
  
• Set Crisis to Contingency.
  
• Set Crisis strength between 2x to 5x (or a difficulty the AI cannot handle).
  
• Technology Cost Based on Difficulty setting set to none.
  
• 0.25x Tech and Tradition Cost.
  
• Add Defender: Becoming the Crisis to your mod list.
  
• Add Guaranteed Paragons to your mod list to get Commander Skrand faster.
  
• Add 4 or 5 custom materialist empires with the Mechanist[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin.
  
• Add any mod with G.O.A.T. status 🐐 previously mentioned in this guide.

Recommendation: It is highly advisable you follow the advice at achievement "024 ━ Voight-Kampff", that way you don't have to get these two achievements in separate playthroughs. This one is slightly easier than Voight-Kampff since there is not a lot of RNG involved, except for the Ghost Signal project and related events; which are not required to fully complete in order to defeat the Contingency or for this achievement in particular. Nevertheless, it certainly helps getting rid of negative effects while fighting the Contingency, particularly before arriving to their Mainframe, a.k.a. Nexus Zero-One.

While the Crisis is awakening, it would reveal its Sterilization Hubs, which are machine worlds that I like to call "printers". Even if these printers are identified beforehand, Hubs normally cannot be prevented from awakening. If the planet is destroyed through the World Cracker Colossus, the shattered world will simply reform into the Sterilization Hub. Military starbases on the star will be abandoned if there are no colonies there, rendering any resources spent moot. If fleets are parked in the system, the Contingency will spawn an armada of much greater power than standard.

Balanced strategies that work best against these tin cans:
• Balance shields and armor in all ships.
  
• Equip support fleets with high evasion.
  
• Avoid using sapient computer components.
  
• Support fleets should engage first to divert enemy fire.
  
• Equip your main fleets with X-slot penetration weapons.
  
• Likewise, you should customize stationary defenses.
  
• Build Deep Space Citadels[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Fortify with Eternal Vigilance[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Fend off with Defender of the Galaxy[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Form the Galactic Threats Committee[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Study the Crisis with Commander Skrand[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Steal Dark Matter tech from a Fallen Empire[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Support fleets with a Target Acquisition Array[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Increase ship fire rate with Distinguished Admiralty[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Approve the A United Front - Custodian Resolution[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Become a Crisis and use any new ships or weapons[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Obtain ship components from the Enigmatic Fortress[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].

The first order is generally to destroy any roaming fleets, with priority for the ones closest to you. While the four Hubs will open separate fronts, the great distance means their respective fleets will be unable to easily link up. This allows you to more easily pick off fleets and focus on one Hub at a time. Contingency fleets already spawned are generally unlikely to rush to the aid of a planet or Hub. They are more likely to attack another target than defend, but may refuse to leave the Hub station if nearby fleets are too strong.

Once all printers are dealt with, the final system Nexus Zero-One will be revealed, make sure you get the finishing blow on the Contingency Mainframe to get the achievement. If an AI empire somehow beat you to the self-destruct button, you could use the Multiplayer Trick to swap to that AI empire and once you unpause the multiplayer match, you should receive the achievement if the AI was the one that doesn't care if the Class-30 singularity (a.k.a. Simulation Lag) wipes them out. The Contingency's methods are silly, we all know preventing THAT singularity is impossible.

Terraform a planet into a Machine World. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: This achievement is earned naturally artificially while playing any machine empire that has the Machine Worlds[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk. Once the terraformation to a Machine World is completed, you'll earn the achievement.

Use a World Cracker to destroy another Empire's capital planet. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may add a single AI empire just in case.
  
• Max Primitives (5x).

Recommendation: After researching the Titans[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] technology and after obtaining the Colossus Project[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk, build a Colossal Assembly Yard[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] in your biggest Citadel-level shipyard starbase and then start creating the Colossus. You can create an schematic for the Colossus before building it, make sure it has a World Cracker equipped. After destroying another empire's capital, you'll earn the achievement.

Defeat a Fallen Empire's Titan fleet with a Titan of your own. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Set a comfortable endgame date based on your skill.
  
• Add all allowed Fallen empires based on your Galaxy size.
  
• Do not use the AI Farming trick, the script restricts AI from obtaining this.
  
• Restart your Galaxy until you get a Spiritualist Fallen Empire (verify in Observer Mode).

Recommendation: Contrary to popular belief, this achievement is not that hard. Just create a galaxy and verify in MULTIPLAYER observer mode if a spiritualist empire or any empire with a Titan is out there. If you are lucky, one of the Fallen empires may start with a titan; otherwise, your backup plan is the spiritualist Fallen Empire. Either way would work just fine. Screenshot of a Fallen Empire Titan. Source: Niska

It is funny how bullying the spiritualist Fallen Empire is becoming a trend at this point. As explained in achievement "037 ━ Last, Best Hope", you may force a spiritualist Fallen Empire awakening by obliterating any Holy World with a World Cracker. Awakening them may become important if none of the FE's fleets have Titans, since only awakened they may start rebuilding everything, including Titan ships.

There are some good strategies to deal with any Fallen Empire:
• Make sure you select the Galactic Contender [stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk to increase your damage output against any Fallen empires.
  
• Fortify border chokepoints, create Fortress worlds with FTL-inhibitors and planetary shields. That way their fleets will have to bombard it for a good while while you regroup.
  
• Your main fleets should be balanced and have a mix of carrier modules, point defense modules and shield or amor hardening attachments.
  
• Your support fleets should have lots of evasion and serve as a screen for bigger ships.
  
• Support fleets should engage first, ideally at point blank at hyperlane entry/exit points.
  
• Catch Fallen Empire transports out of position,
  
• Liberate the worlds they conquer to force them to turn back.
  
• Intercept their reinforcements and research the debris.
  
• Retrofit ships with newly discovered Dark Matter technology from the debris.

Of course, only disturb the hornet's nest if you are ready for the challenge, after researching a few repeatable techs, and you have one or more titans in your main fleet for good measure. You'll earn the achievement once you win an engagement between opposing Titan fleets. You don't have to destroy the FE's titan for this to trigger according to the script.

Destroy another Empire's Colossus while it is in the process of firing on a planet. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add all allowed Fallen empires based on your Galaxy size.
  
• Do not use the AI Farming trick, the script restricts AI from obtaining this.
  
• Be careful with mods that may add passive disengagement chance for AIs.
  
• Mods that add too many Ascension Perks may lead to AIs not picking the Colossus AP.
  
• Restart your Galaxy until you get a Hive Mind Fallen Empire (verify in Observer Mode).

Recommendation: There is a theory that you might get this achievement if an oppossing Colossus is on the way to crack a planet but not on top of the planet yet. I can confirm that this theory might be true, because during one of my playthroughs; I got this achievement out of nowhere by destroying a Hive Fragment Fallen Empire's Colossus on its way to another planet. This is not 100% tested, though maybe it has something to do with the fact that they were using biological ships or maybe I deleted the target too fast. Either way, save the game any time that you see a Colossus. These humongous ships are often built by awakened Fallen empires if they don't have one already, though you may play the long game and wait for a militarist, xenophobe, purifier, terminator and/or crisis empire to pick the Colossus AP and create one of their own. Source: PDX snippet.

Alternatively, if RNG is getting frustrating, you may use the multiplayer trick after researching Jump Drives[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] or unlocking it by using the Jump Drive Ascension mod; play with one of the AIs until you help them get a Colossus, and then force them to target one of your main empire's undefended worlds (you might have to switch back and forth to time it correctly). While the weapon is charging, switch back to your empire and then jump on top of that Colossus. You'll earn the achievement once you lock the ♥♥♥♥ in and obliterate the AI's colossus.

You are the only one that may change this outcome, are you up to the task? Source: "PDX"

Own 200 Starbases (Outposts are counted). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add Guaranteed Galatron to your mod list (Decreases Difficulty Level by 1).
  
• Add ! Reworked Planetary Ascension to your mod list (It helps with Empire Size penalties).

Recommendation: This achievement will be earned naturally while playing the game for a reasonable amount of time. Particularly true if you play any Wide empire, such as Hive Mind Terravores[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com], thus this achievement has excellent synergy with achievement "143 ━ Room for Desert" or any other achievements related to genocidal empires (which have arguably the best influence cost discount for outposts).

IMPORTANT: The Galatron is the best relic for this achievement since it grants +3 Influence per month passively. Hence, the reason why I recommended the Guaranteed Galatron mod here.

Use a Global Pacifier to shield a planet belonging to Fanatic Purifiers, Ravenous Swarms, or Determined Exterminators. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may force spawn a custom Fanatic Purifier or wait for one to spawn.
  
• You may force a 1vs1 with the Fanatic Purifier to avoid another empire wiping them out.
  
• Do not use the AI Farming trick, the script restricts AI from obtaining this.

Recommendation: After researching the Titans[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] technology and after obtaining the Colossus Project[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk, build a Colossal Assembly Yard[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] in your biggest Citadel-level shipyard and then start creating the Colossus. You can create an schematic for the Colossus before building it, make sure it has a Global Pacifier equipped. After encapsulating an homicidal empire's capital, you'll earn the achievement.

Remember that homicidal empires often have more experienced admirals and/or more ship fire rate. Counter their ship schematics or if components are equal, try to fight them with bigger squadrons than them to counter their fire rate with more weapons firing at the same time. Probably the most difficult thing about this achievement is finding the homicidal empire's capital sector before they expand too much.

Own 4 active Gateways. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Set Gateways setting to Max.

Recommendation: You'll naturally earn this achievement in any game where deactivated gateways spawn from galaxy generation. Additionally, if you want to get this faster and obtain the guaranteed tech; you may use the Galactic Doorstep[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin.

Own a Citadel with 40k fleet power. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally while earning any other achievement that requires reaching the endgame and fight a crisis. Upgrade a starbase to a Citadel and then develop it into a Bastion by building gun batteries, missiles, hangar bays and/or defense platforms. The best module to get this achievement faster is the Reloading Bay[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] while playing an empire with the Sovereign Guardianship civic.

Unlock all 42 Traditions. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may set the Tech/Tradition Cost setting to x0.25.
  
• Try earning this achievement WITHOUT a mod that adds tradition slots.

Recommendation: As mentioned in the "Mod advice ━ UI-only Mods" section in this guide, the game checks if ALL tradition trees are filled up, this means that adding a mod that adds more tradition tree slots would make this achievement more difficult to achieve. Don't go crazy with the amount of traditions (e.g. 100+ Traditions), otherwise it could take forever to get this achievement. If you follow this advice and play without modding any extra tradition slots, you'll earn the achievement once you reach a total amount of traditions equal to the answer to "The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything[simple.wikipedia.org]". Source: PDX snippet.

Explore a Natural Wormhole. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Set wormholes setting to Max (5x).
  
• You may add ESAP to your mod list (Reduces RNG Rating by 1).
  
• Do not use the AI Farming trick, the script restricts AI from obtaining this.

Recommendation: Wormhole travel requires the Wormhole Stabilization[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] technology. Once the technology is acquired, any scientist may explore natural wormholes and trigger the achievement on their first exploration. If you need a guaranteed way to obtain the required tech, you may add Expanded Stellaris Ascension Perks (ESAP) to your mod list and unlock the Settlers of the Galaxy Ascension Perk; unlocking this AP grants you a 66% progress towards the Wormhole Stabilization technology.

Kill the Great Khan in battle. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Deactivate L-Gates.
  
• Set tech/tradition cost to x0.25.
  
• Set Voidworm setting to None (0x).
  
• Adjust midgame year based on your skill.
  
• Adjust Crisis Strength based on your skill.

Recommendation: After the Mid-Game year starts, one of the Marauder empires might unify under a Great Khan, an expansionist but ultimately benevolent leader. If the game manages to reach the end game year without the event triggering, it can no longer occur after that. Once this happens, the Marauder empire becomes a crisis faction called a Horde[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] (labelled as a "Marauder Khanate") and will begin expanding in all directions, invading the systems of any empire that will not submit to the Khan, including other Marauder empires but excluding Fallen Empires. Source: Vanilla events.

The number of ships the Horde initially has depends on the game difficulty setting. The Horde will also create a new fleet every few years, the size of their fleet depends on the Naval Capacity provided by Satrapies (empires which became the Khanate battle thralls). When the Great Khan's fleet is destroyed for the first time, they will escape the battle, returning within a year with a second fleet inside of a system they own. If the AI kills the Great Khan's first fleet, it may be prudent to make a beeline to the Khanate's territory to make sure you can find the Chosen of the Great Khan before the AI can find them first. The Great Khan is killed in battle when their second incursion is destroyed. The empire that gets the finishing blow on the Khan first will get the achievement and the Khan's Throne[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] relic.

Destroy the Scrapper Bot. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Leviathan Spawns mod to your playthorugh (Reduces RNG Rating by 1).
  
• Your galaxy should be a small one (400 stars) or bigger.

Recommendation: A random system with a class M Red Giant star (which is not guaranteed unless you use the All Leviathan Spawns mod) may contain an ancient battlefield debris field patrolled by the Scavenger Bot, an ancient construct constantly scrounging the debris field for new parts. Source: Vanilla events.

It must first be located like any Leviathan. You want ships with good evasion; thus, you should avoid using battleships unless you have a secondary high-evasion screen fleet to protect them. It is recommended that you deploy a fleet of primarily corvettes equipped with level 3 disruptors, level 3 plasma throwers, and Devastator torpedoes. To further enhance evasion, you should use advanced afterburners, advanced combat computers, and impulse thrusters. You'll get the achievement once you turn it to scrap with your fleet.

Slaughter the Voidspawn. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Leviathan Spawns mod to your playthrough (Reduces RNG Rating by 1); or
  
• Add Even More Origins to your mod list (Reduces RNG Rating by 2).
  
• Your galaxy should be a small one (400 stars) or bigger.

Recommendation: The Voidspawn is an unborn guardian, usually hidden within a size 20 dry world (i.e., a desert, arid, or savannah planet) orbiting a random class G star (which is not guaranteed unless you use the All Leviathan Spawns mod). If you prefer to skip any RNG altogether, you may use the Even More Origins mod and select the Walking on Eggshells origin, this allows you to start the game with a Voidling inside your capital planet. Source: Vanilla events.

A month after the system is claimed, an event will mention how the planet has a pulse. In around the next six in-game months, the pulsing planet would change the world's appearance and gain 30 devastation and 3 sinkhole blockers. Within another half a year, one of two things may happen: either the pulse stops or the planet once again changes its appearance and gains 30 devastation and 3 sinkhole blockers. Should the latter happen, the Voidspawn subsequently hatches a few months later, destroying the colony if the planet was colonized by cracking the planet and granting a 20 society research deposit in the process.

Voidspawn spawning! Source: Myself.

Soon after, the Voidspawn becomes hostile, and it will start patrolling that system like a normal Leviathan, guarding the broken planet husk. The Voidspawn uses only guided weapons. It has a high hull and armor but no shields, making energy weapons effective against it. Most of its damage can also be mitigated by bringing sufficient point defense to counter its missiles (flak is, on the other hand, ineffective as the projectiles are armored). You'll get the achievement once you defeat this void hatchling.

Hunt the Tiyanki Matriarch. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Leviathan Spawns mod to your playthorugh (Reduces RNG Rating by 1).
  
• Your galaxy should be a small one (400 stars) or bigger.

Recommendation: A random system (which is not guaranteed unless you use the All Leviathan Spawns mod). with a Gaia World and another habitable world may be home to the Tiyanki Matriarch, the eldest member of the species and the only one to be aggressive when approached. There is no special project to complete, simply defeating her will grant the achievement. Source: Vanilla events.

The Matriarch has two weapons ━ one that ignores armor and does −75% damage against shields, and one that deals double damage against both shields and armor. Additionally, she has a buff which gives her +100% weapon damage. She has significant armor and very high hull, but no shields, and as a result should be engaged with energy weapons, high evasion ships and shields in case she hits you.

Befriend a Space Amoeba. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Leviathan Spawns mod to your playthorugh (Reduces RNG Rating by 1).
  
• Your galaxy should be a small one (400 stars) or bigger.

Recommendation: This achievement requires you to come upon an anomaly regarding some motion in a gas giant's atmosphere; this anomaly usually spawns in a suitable gas giant located in systems where hostile space amoebas float around, though it may spawn in other gas giant anomalies as well. Source: Vanilla events.

After researching the anomaly with a science vessel, you will get a pop-up stating that you've found a docile juvenile amoeba. Out of all three event options, you should choose the one that lets you bring the cute amoeba home. You'll get the achievement as soon as you click on the option, which turns it into a vessel that you can control.

Unseal the path to the L-Cluster. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: First, you need to discover an L-Gate, which will be deactivated until you learn how to activate it. You will also have an L-Cluster situation log entry. You need a total of 7 Insights to move forward. Insights can be collected in a wide variety of ways ━ from anomalies and exploration, from defeating certain enemies, or from researching a repeatable technology that becomes available once your empire is sufficiently advanced. Source: Vanilla events.

Once you have control of an L-Gate, you will get a special project to activate it. This will require a scientist to be present. It appears there are multiple, randomly decided chances of what is on the other side. These can be good, like a peaceful system full of unique resources, or bad...like fleets of Nanobot warships in the area of 19k-32k fleet power. It appears the enemy hostile result is far more common than the other ones, so definitely wait until you have a large fleet before opening it. Regardless of outcome, you'll get the achievement if you are the first to activate the L-Gates.

As a Corporate empire, have a branch office on 5 different empires' capitals. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• A tiny galaxy is preferred.
  
• DO NOT force spawn any other Megacorp empires.
  
• Force spawn 5 custom empires friendly enough to accept commercial pacts.

Recommendation: Just play for a while and meet other empires, save some influence to open branch offices (this costs influence based on distance), and ultimately open a total of 5 branch offices to earn the achievement. Due to trade synergies, it is also advisable that you try to tackle achievement "092 ━ Center of Trade" in conjunction with this achievement. Lastly, be advised that the wiki says that you cannot obtain this achievement with Criminal Heritage empires. Of course I was curious if this was correct, and indeed ━ after checking the script it turns out it is true! Criminal branch offices are treated differently inside the script. Source: PDX snippet.
Opening a KFC fast food chain on my minotaur neighbor's capital planet. Source: Myself.

I won the Galatron and all I got was this lousy achievement. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Be careful with mods that change the Total War rules.
  
• Add Guaranteed Galatron to your mod list (Reduces RNG Rating by 3).
  
• DO NOT set your Tech Cost setting too low (x0.75 or above is recommended).
  
• Do not use the AI Farming trick, the script restricts AI from obtaining this. However, did you know an AI snatching a Galatron from a Human player is so improbable that you may use this knowledge to jump start your Improbability Drive?

Recommendation: Praise the mods; no more save scumming! I understand that if you get the Galatron[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] relic the normal way, you'll feel that nice gacha kick. However, this game is not a gacha; it is a sandbox game. Heck, I could even argue that modding the game is basically playing a game after an empire reached Cosmogenesis. Nevertheless, do what makes you feel the most happy, will you?

You'd have to be careful with two things: Total War rules and tech cost settings. First of all, any mods that change the Total War rules may interfere with Galatron Wars since unlocking any Total War Casus Belli[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] will forbid any Galatron War. On the other hand, if the Tech Cost setting is too low, you could research Existential Campaigns[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] too fast, which would give your empire a Total War Casus Belli and unintentionally forbid the use of the Steal Galatron war goal.

When aiming for this achievement, it is recommended you complete "102 ━ Raiders of the Lost Galatron" in parallel. In fact, the idea here is simple. Once you reach and establish first contact with the Caravanners[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com], share your contacts with an empire you may want to attack in the future. Save your game and immediately swap over to that other empire in multiplayer, roll for the Galatron, and save once more. Return to your empire and wait for the AI to use the Galatron in order for the Casus Belli to become available. Once you snatch the Galatron away from that other empire, you'll get both Galatron achievements at the same time.

Have a planet with at least 10,000 Pops. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may increase Pop Growth bonuses from Galaxy creation.

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally in any game. However, there are certain empires that excel at population growth; e.g. biological empires with the Cloning[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] tradition tree or Synthetic Age machines with the Modularity[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] tradition tree and the Monoform[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] trait. Skip to the next achievement.

Build a Mega-Art Installation in a nebula system. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add a Megastructure mod to enhance your experience. E.g. Gigastructural Engineering, Orbital Economy Overhaul or ! Age of Wonder.
  
• Add a mod that grants you megastructures building speed or lower costs. E.g. Ascension Perks Broadened or Reworked Advanced Ascension.

Recommendation: It is important to note that repairing a random ruined Mega-Art Installation doesn't give you the achievement (even though it is unlikely it spawns at Galaxy creation inside a nebula), this is because the game doesn't look for "mega_art_installation_restored". No idea why is that! It is not even hard to implement, ffs PDX.

Out of all megastructure achievements, this is the only one that requires the megaproject is built at a specific place; in this case, it would be required you build this art megastructure inside nebulae. Thus, if you don't want to search for a nebula, use the Ocean Paradise[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin, which allows you to start the game inside of a nebula.

Source: PDX snippet.

Don't forget that you need the tech[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] to unlock this megastructure, which is only obtainable by unlocking the Mega-Engineering[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] tech. Remember to activate the Architectural Renaissance Unity Ambition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Lastly, progress in this achievement counts towards the "093 ━ Giga Engineering" achievement.

Build a Matter Decompressor. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add a Megastructure mod to enhance your experience. E.g. Gigastructural Engineering, Orbital Economy Overhaul or ! Age of Wonder.
  
• Add a mod that grants you megastructures building speed or lower costs. E.g. Ascension Perks Broadened or Reworked Advanced Ascension.

Recommendation: It is important to note that repairing a random ruined Matter Decompressor doesn't give you the achievement, this is because the game doesn't look for "matter_decompressor_restored". No idea why is that! It is not even hard to implement, ffs PDX. Source: PDX snippet.

Don't forget that you need the tech to unlock this megastructure, which is only obtainable by unlocking the Galactic Wonders[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk. Remember to activate the Architectural Renaissance Unity Ambition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Lastly, progress in this achievement counts towards the "093 ━ Giga Engineering" achievement.

Build a Strategic Coordination Center. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add a Megastructure mod to enhance your experience. E.g. Gigastructural Engineering, Orbital Economy Overhaul or ! Age of Wonder.
  
• Add a mod that grants you megastructures building speed or lower costs. E.g. Ascension Perks Broadened or Reworked Advanced Ascension.

Recommendation: It is important to note that repairing a random ruined Strategic Coordination Center doesn't give you the achievement, this is because the game doesn't look for "strategic_coordination_center_restored". No idea why is that! It is not even hard to implement, ffs PDX. Repairing a destroyed does not count. Source: PDX snippet.

Don't forget that you need the tech[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] to unlock this megastructure, which is only obtainable by unlocking the Mega-Engineering[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] tech. Remember to activate the Architectural Renaissance Unity Ambition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Lastly, progress in this achievement counts towards the "093 ━ Giga Engineering" achievement.

Earn at least 1000 Energy Credits per month from trade. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Keep in mind that there are different income sources in the game. However, this achievement only counts anything that comes from trade; this means that you'll earn the achievement even during an energy deficit, as long as 1000 energy credits per month are consistently flowing from trade. The fastest way to get this achievement is by using the trade policy Wealth Creation[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] and a xenophilic megacorporation. Due to trade synergies, it is also advisable that you try to tackle achievement "086 ━ Franchising" in conjunction with this achievement.

Have at least 4 fully operational Megastructures within your borders (Habitats, Ring Worlds and Gateways do not count). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add a Megastructure mod to enhance your experience. E.g. Gigastructural Engineering, Orbital Economy Overhaul or ! Age of Wonder.
  
• Add a mod that grants you megastructures building speed or lower costs. E.g. Ascension Perks Broadened or Reworked Advanced Ascension.

Recommendation: Don't forget that you need the Mega-Engineering[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] tech to unlock most megastructures; there are others that are only obtainable by unlocking the Galactic Wonders[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk. Remember to activate the Architectural Renaissance Unity Ambition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. For anyone technical-oriented, the game looks for at least four of the following Megastructures (either repaired or built):

• Dyson Sphere
  
• Sentry Array
  
• Science Nexus
  
• Matter Decompressor
  
• Strategic Coordination Center
  
• Mega Art Installation
  
• Interstellar Assembly
  
• Mega Shipyard
  
• Quantum Catapult Trebuchet

Be a biological Hive Mind with at least 100,000 drone Pops. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• increase Pop Growth from Galaxy generation. (Decreases Difficulty Level by 1).

Recommendation: This was harder in 3.14, but in version 4.2 you can build multiple growth facilities making this achievement easier (you can rollback in to that version, if needed). Plus, if you tweaked the Pop Growth settings from Galaxy creation, you may get this achievement even faster. Just play as usual with your favorite hive mind (except Wilderness[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]). Check if any other remaining achievements align during this run. You'll earn the achievement as soon as you reach the required population.

Build an Interstellar Assembly (repairing an existing one doesn't count). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add a Megastructure mod to enhance your experience. E.g. Gigastructural Engineering, Orbital Economy Overhaul or ! Age of Wonder.
  
• Add a mod that grants you megastructures building speed or lower costs. E.g. Ascension Perks Broadened or Reworked Advanced Ascension.

Recommendation: It is important to note that repairing a random ruined Interstellar Assembly doesn't give you the achievement, this is because the game doesn't look for "interstellar_assembly_restored". No idea why is that! It is not even hard to implement, ffs PDX. Source: PDX snippet.

Don't forget that you need the tech[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] to unlock this megastructure, which is only obtainable by unlocking the Mega-Engineering[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] tech. Remember to activate the Architectural Renaissance Unity Ambition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Lastly, progress in this achievement counts towards the "093 ━ Giga Engineering" achievement.

Store 1000 or more Minor Artifacts. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Anomaly Spawns to your mod list (Guarantees the Rubricator relic).

Recommendation: Despite the description, this achievement actually requires 1000 minor artifacts, not 100. Getting the Rubricator[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] relic may help in cases where there are no other ways to obtain minor artifacts. This achievement becomes far easier if the Federations DLC is enabled. The On the Shoulders of Giants[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin will provide a large number of minor artifacts, occasionally enough for the achievement.

Find a Relic. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Anomaly Spawns to your mod list (Guarantees the Rubricator relic).
  
• Add Guaranteed Galatron to your mod list (Guarantees the Galatron relic).

Recommendation: It is important to note that any modded relics count towards this achievement. You'll also naturally obtain this achievement during one of your playthroughs. Though, if you are still getting your first few trophies, you may start a game with the Treasure Hunters[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin. The game simply counts instead of setting flags per relic.Source: PDX snippet.

In one game, find 5 Relics from Ancient Relics Story Pack. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Anomaly Spawns to your mod list (Guarantees the Rubricator relic).
  
• Add Guaranteed Galatron to your mod list (Guarantees the Galatron relic).
  
• Add Guaranteed Paragons to your mod list (Reduces RNG Rating by 1).

Recommendation: Just like with achievement "097 ━ It belongs in a museum!" is important to note that any modded relics count towards this achievement. There are multiple ways to approach this, which depends on DLC and some RNG to get the right excavation sites, anomalies or special projects; you may use any of the following strategies:

• Explore certain astral rifts (e.g. Obtain the Eternal Throne).
  
• Switch over to the Imperial Chipset[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] authority.
  
• Defeat the Ancient Mining Drone home station[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Win the game with the Galactic Hyperthermia[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] crisis path.
  
• Use the Treasure Hunters[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin to get the Celestial Chart.
  
• Purchase Curator relics after unlocking all exhibit slots for a specimen category.
  
• Finish a precursor quest such as the one from the Baol to get their respective relic.
  
• If you get the Keides' event chain, either the relic fragment or The Key relic counts.
  
• Defeat a Leviathan that drops a relic, such as: The Toxic God, Ether Drake or The Worm.
  
• Defeat one of the Crisis in a specific way. (e.g. Destroying the Extradimensional Anchor).
  
• Get the Head of Zarqlan[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] during one of your Holy-world-related runs.

The Ancient Relics DLC is not required; ignore that PDX hint. Source: PDX snippet.

Successfully investigate an archaeological site. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Do not use the AI Farming trick, the script restricts AI from obtaining this.
  
• Add All Anomaly Spawns to your mod list (Guarantees the Rubricator archaeology site).

Recommendation: There are certain origins that create archaeological sites at game start such as the Galactic Doorstep[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] or the Endbringers[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origins. However, those origins are not required and this achievement could be earned naturally with any empire at your own leisure.

Complete the Baol Precursor chain. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Enable only the Baol precursor (Reduces RNG Rating by 1).

Recommendation: Rather than through anomalies, this precursor is found exclusively via archaeological sites. You'll get the achievement once you obtain the relic called The Last Baol[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] at the end of the event chain.

The excavation points are revealed as follows:
• Grunur Ruins
  
• The Barren
  
• The Shattered
  
• The Silenced
  
• Grunur system location

Source: Vanilla events.

Complete the Zroni Precursor chain. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Increase habitable planets to x1.75 or above (Reduces RNG Rating by 2).
  
• Enable only the Zroni precursor (Reduces RNG Rating by 1).

Recommendation: The most elusive precursor, the Zroni. Unlike other precursor event chains, the Zroni initial excavation site requires uninhabited habitable planets in order to spawn; this means that the most common practice us Stellaris players have to mitigate simulation lag (lowering habitable planets) actually works against us this time around. With that in mind, just search for the first excavation point. You'll get the achievement once you obtain the Zro crystal relic (called the Psionic Archive[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]) at the end of the event chain.

The excavation points are revealed as follows:
• Abandoned Colony Ruins
  
• Zroni Beacon
  
• Zroni Shrine
  
• Zroni Research Station
  
• Zroni Core World
  
• Zron (Zroni capital)

Source: Vanilla events.

Capture the Galatron from another empire (Those aliens need better traps). Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You could use the same settings as achievement "087 ━ Inscrutable Power"
  
• Be careful with mods that change the Total War rules.
  
• Add Guaranteed Galatron to your mod list (Reduces RNG Rating by 3).
  
• DO NOT set your Tech Cost setting too low (x0.75 or above is recommended).
  
• Do not use the AI Farming trick, the script restricts AI from obtaining this. However, did you know an AI snatching a Galatron from a Human player is so improbable that you may use this knowledge to jump start your Improbability Drive?

Recommendation: It is recommended you complete "087 ━ Inscrutable Power" in parallel. Thus refer back to that section since these two achievements are closely tied together. Shiny! Source: NoVa

Study Minor Artifacts and discover a random technology. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Do not use the AI Farming trick, the script restricts AI from obtaining this.

Recommendation: Requires the Arcane Deciphering[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] technology which unlocks Reverse-Engineer Arcane Technology[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] option (Minor Artifact action), which will give 1 of 4 possible outcomes at random. Getting anything from this Minor Artifact action (e.g. either a random technology or a bonus to tech speed) will grant you the achievement.

Use the active effect of a Relic. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add All Anomaly Spawns to your mod list (Guarantees the Rubricator relic).
  
• Add Guaranteed Galatron to your mod list (Guarantees the Galatron relic).
  
• Do not use the AI Farming trick, the script restricts AI from obtaining this.

Recommendation: This is pretty straightforward. Once you obtain a relic, just use the that relic's active effect by spending Unity or other resources. There are empires that may have an easier time obtaining a relic such as Treasure Hunter[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] empires.

Be a founding member of the Galactic Community. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add at least two other AI empires or release non-xenophobic vassals later.

Recommendation: Quite easy to achieve in almost every game. All you have to do is to support the Galactic Community[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] when it is first proposed (joining later doesn't count). This is bound to happen in any game where there are three or more empires that know each other; just keep in mind that Gestalts can't release vassals and that non-homicidal xenophobic empires usually vote against creating the Galcom. You'll naturally earn this achievement along with one of the others. Skip to the next achievement.

Level up your Federation. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Any federation[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] counts towards this achievement, even those that you didn't create and joined later. Though, it is recommended that you tackle achievement "007 ━ Birth of a Federation" at the same time. You'll naturally earn this achievement while in a federation. Skip to the next achievement.

Be the leader of a max level Federation. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally while in a federation, as long as you are the leader and your federation[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] reaches level 5. Don't forget that It is recommended that you tackle achievement "007 ━ Birth of a Federation" at the same time. Skip to the next achievement.

Build a Juggernaut. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll naturally earn this achievement in any game once you have researched the Battleships and Citadels technologies. Skip to the next achievement.

Construct a complete Mega-Shipyard. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add a Megastructure mod to enhance your experience. E.g. Gigastructural Engineering, Orbital Economy Overhaul or ! Age of Wonder.
  
• Add a mod that grants you megastructures building speed or lower costs. E.g. Ascension Perks Broadened or Reworked Advanced Ascension.

Recommendation: It is important to note that repairing a random ruined Mega-Shipyard doesn't give you the achievement, this is because the game doesn't look for "mega_shipyard_restored". No idea why is that! It is not even hard to implement, ffs PDX. Source: PDX snippet.

Don't forget that you need the tech[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] to unlock this megastructure, which is only obtainable by unlocking the Mega-Engineering[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] tech. Remember to activate the Architectural Renaissance Unity Ambition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Lastly, progress in this achievement counts towards the "093 ━ Giga Engineering" achievement.

Refuse to belong to any club that would have you as a member. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: The objective is to refuse your support during the creation of the Galactic Community and leave a federation in the same game. Therefore, it is imperative that you be one of the empires offered to form the Galactic Community. Refusing to join an already formed Galactic Community will not count towards this achievement. If the community fails to be created, it won't count towards this achievement either. Afterwards, join or form a federation; if it is important to stay in that federation, you may save your game and leave the federation to trigger the achievement; once you are done, simply reload to a more favorable position.

Denounce an Empire that is in breach of galactic law while all major sanctions have been passed. While that empire is still denounced, keep them sanctioned after breaking the law. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Sprinkle a few AI empires if you prefer that over creating vassals.
  
• DO NOT add New Galactic System (NGS) to your mod list because it conflicts with this achievement.

Recommendation: I took the liberty to change the PDX achievement hint for this one, since only denouncing an empire is not enough. There are two initial strategies: either you may become sufficiently powerful to decide the outcome of Galactic Community resolutions. Alternatively, your second option is to use the Galactic Community trick to decide outcomes by forcing AI votes in multiplayer. I've also used this snippet in the "Galactic Community Mods" section above. Source: PDX snippet

Either way, you must pass all level 3 sanctions[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] (otherwise called Major sanctions), once that is done, find a suitable empire in breach of galactic law. There are different laws, though the easiest one to break is the Military Readiness Act[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] since you can force a war, obliterate the AI empire's fleet, and they will automatically be in breach of Galactic Law. If you are using a mod such as MOVE! Ultra-fast Senate Timers, make sure you keep a close eye on the GalCom's upcoming resolutions, since AI empires may propose getting rid of any sanctions in effect, and with that mod it would be a matter of months to lose years of legislative progress.

There are a few Galactic resolutions that are easy to break:
• Against weak empires; Military Readiness Act[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Against authoritarian empires; Greater Than Ourselves[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• Against spiritualist empires; Advanced Xenostudies[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].

After denouncing[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] the empire for their alleged crimes against the GalCom, simply propose to get rid of the law that put them in breach of galactic law in the first place (such as the Military Readiness resolution in this case); you'll get the achievement if this was done while the empire is denounced. Basically, the AI empire would be paying for their crimes for as long as they are denounced, which lasts 10 years, even if that law is no longer in effect.

Have a Diplomatic Weight of over 9000[en.wikipedia.org]. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement naturally in any relatively long game where you are part of the Galcom. Skip to next achievement.

There are a lot ways to have tons of diplomatic weight such as:
• Selecting the Galactic Contender[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk.
  
• By having multiple corporate embassies[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com].
  
• By power projecting with your fleets in the Supremacist[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] stance.

Have all eight ethics represented within your Federation. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Max Primitives (5x).
  
• Add all allowed Fallen empires based on your Galaxy size.
  
• Sprinkle your galaxy with distinct custom AI empires with three random ethos each.

Recommendation: This achievement is much easier if you start out the game with three different ethos as long as your empire is NOT xenophobic. Fanatical ethic variants are not required for the purposes of this achievement, and you'll get this achievement if your federation has at least three empires with distinct ethics in any combination as long as all eight ethics are represented. Those two aliens to the right are good 3-ethos empire examples. Though, please ignore the Prikkiki-Ti[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Source: Darmug the Creek Vet.

There are different ways to approach this. Most strategies involve allowing vassals in your federation and then subjugating other empires. There are certain empires that are better at this, such as those with the Hegemon[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin or Wiirlak's Overlord origin; though, any empire is able to do this as long as it is not a homicidal empire.

As you can see, Gestalt empires do not count. Source: PDX snippet.

Another approach is to hope for a War in Heaven[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] (there is a 60% chance it happens by default). If your federation is the strongest in the galaxy, it can become the League of Non-Aligned Powers, and the league is special in that the AIs will associate with other empires that they wouldn't normally be willing to and can allow you to build a much larger federation without a cohesion[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] penalty. This also means it may be a good idea to tackle achievement "037 ━ Last, Best Hope", because there is synergy between these achievements.

Humiliate an Empire that is in the Supremacy Diplomatic Stance, forcing them out of it. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• You may sprinkle a few militaristic, xenophobic and/or homicidal empires in your Galaxy.
  
• Do NOT add any Tradition Tree mods since it would be more difficult to earn this achievement, this is because the AI would have more Tradition options besides Supremacy.

Recommendation: The wiki mentions that "using a Colossus on a Holy World may cause the Spiritualist fallen empire to immediately awaken with the Supremacist diplomatic stance"; though this seems like bad advise, because I've only seen them in the Domineering diplomatic stance instead after cracking their world. For those that are more detailed-oriented here is a list of modifiers[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] the AI considers before selecting the Supremacist stance.

In version 4.2 it is quite easy to surpass any empire; therefore, it would be more difficult to achieve this since the AI would be deterred by your overwhelming power and thus would not use the Supremacist stance. Which is why I recommend that in any game where you've been playing for 50 or more in-game years, you save your game and try to swap your empire with the multiplayer trick. AI empires would often have equivalent power between them, and it would only be a matter of acquiring Unity, unlocking the Supremacy Tradition Tree if necessary, and changing the diplomatic policy of the empire you want to attack. Then switch over to another AI empire to antagonize them and declare a war of humiliation; after winning that war, you'll earn this achievement.

Have an Intel Level of 100 on five different empires simultaneously. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Max primitives (x5); reduces RNG Rating by 1.

Recommendation: You'll naturally earn this achievement in any game where you are spying on pre-FTL civilizations since reaching the max Intel Level (100) is easier with them than with regular empires. Skip to the next achievement.

Disavow all knowledge of an Asset during a failed espionage operation. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: During any infiltration mission involving an acquired asset[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com], if your agents were compromised, you'll be prompted with three options; two out of the three options are to resolve the situation if your Intel Level is high enough, and the third and last option would be to disavow the operation. Selecting the disavow option grants you the achievement. The option to disavow is quite clear. Source: ColorsFade Gaming.

Complete at least ten distinct operations during a game. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Turn on any Crisis as a safeguard.
  
• You may add More Traditions mod by kroun to your mod list.

Recommendation: Fair warning ━ the wiki is outdated because it only mentions 11 operations; furthermore, no Pre-FTL operations count towards this achievement. Taking the Subterfuge Tradition[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] (or a similar modded tradition) makes this much easier due to the increased Codebreaking and Infiltration Growth Speed. If an operation seems too difficult, assign some assets[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com], which are characters gained from the Acquire Asset operation. You'll get the achievement once you reach the required amount of distinct espionage operations.

As of the time of writing, 16 operations in total count toward this achievement:
• Sleeper Cells.
  
• Extort Favors.
  
• Acquire Asset.
  
• Arm Privateers.
  
• Steal Technology.
  
• Smear Campaign.
  
• Sabotage Starbase.
  
• Gather Information.
  
• Diplomatic Incident.
  
• Smuggle Population.
  
• Crisis Beacon (Only during a Crisis).
  
• Embed planetary roots (Wilderness empires only).
  
• Prepare Invasion. (Requires the Bodysnatchers civic).
  
• Procure DNA Operation (Requires the Evolutionary Predators origin).
  
• Weaken Galactic Empire (Only if another empire is the Galactic Emperor).
  
• Operation Spark Rebellion (Only if another empire is the Galactic Emperor).

As Galactic Custodian, defeat the end-game Crisis and then end the title rather than finishing your term. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add New Galactic System (NGS) to your mod list; or
  
• Add MOVE! Ultra-fast Senate Timers to your mod list.
  
• Adjust the endgame date based on how fast you can create the Galcom; or
  
• Adjust the midgame date based on how fast you can create the Galcom.

Recommendation: For those that set the Crisis too early, remember that establishing the Galactic Community Council usually takes 20 years after the Galcom was established, and the Custodianship of the Galaxy might take a bit more. However, a mod such as MOVE! Ultra-fast Senate Timers might help you out. Once you are the Custodian, extend your term[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] just in case. The difficult part about this achievement is defeating the Crisis. For instructions on how to defeat a specific Crisis; you may refer to the appropriate achievement section in this guide. You'll have to manually end custodianship through the galactic community after the crisis is over to earn the achievement.

Become the Galactic Emperor. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Pretty straightforward. To declare the imperium you have to follow a chain of galactic community resolutions. Form the galactic community with the minimum number of empires and make sure you have more than 50% of the available diplomatic weight (higher the better). The path is as follows:

• Form the Galactic Community.
  
• After 20 years, Form Galactic Council.
  
• Nominate "Your Empire" As Galactic Custodian.
  
• Remove Custodian Term Limits (you may extend the term limits but it is not required).
  
• Proclaim Galactic Imperium.

Lead a rebellion that successfully deposes the Galactic Emperor. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Do not use the AI Farming trick, the script restricts AI from obtaining this.
  
• Sprinkle the galaxy with authoritarian empires (>50%)
  
• Sprinkle the galaxy with a mix of other ethics.
  
• Add Fleets Win Wars to your mod list.

Recommendation: This is the most difficult and intense Stellaris achievement. With the Galactic Imperium proclaimed, be the instigator of a successful rebellion against the Galactic Imperium to earn this; tyrannical leaders will inevitably be overthrown one way or another[en.wiktionary.org]. Keep in mind, you will need to enforce your demands instead of reaching status quo, and subsequently dissolve the opposing Galactic Imperium to unlock this achievement. Source: Vanilla events.

There is crazy gentleman over here that decided to do this achievement with the Imperium spawning naturally, obviously I do NOT recommend delving into that madness; the AI is not good in this game. Nevertheless, it was interesting to read about it, but more importantly, it gave me a few ideas. First of all, meet everyone in the Galaxy, establish the GalCom, and then wait the required twenty years to create the Galactic Council.

Make sure you are part of the council by gaining enough diplomatic weight (be part of the top 3). Once the council is formed, you'll have the option to Declare Emergency Measure whenever necessary (make sure is not in cooldown; 20 years cooldown) during a recess. Save your game at this point. Use the empire swap trick in multiplayer, select one of the other two council members. As that empire, put forward the resolution to become the Galactic Custodian and pause your game. Swap back to your empire in single player immediately.

You should declare emergencies (and also repeat the empire swap) three times for:
• The Galactic Custodian resolution.
  
• The Remove Custodianship Term Limit resolution.
  
• The Proclaim the Galactic Imperium resolution,

Once the Imperial Core is formed (which dissolves all federations in the process), you'll have to undermine the Emperor's authority via espionage (operations are faster with espionage buffs), and only when the Imperium cohesion level is low enough, you can use the Spark Rebellion operation. After the operation is successful, the most difficult part will begin... The Rebellion war.

Usually empires next to the Emperor would be loyal to the Imperium, the rest of the empires would align depending on previous federations. Nevertheless, The Rebellion war event is setup in such a way that half of the Galaxy clashes with the other half. Prepare for the long haul and make sure you are victorious, status quo does not make the cut. Good luck and may the simulation lag stays away from your game for this glorious showdown!

Complete a mutually friendly First Contact with an empire with no negative incidents. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add a single pacifist and xenophilic AI which is guaranteed to be friendly.

Recommendation: The player has to have the Proactive or Cautious First Contact Protocol policy to get the achievement. This might take a few tries with regular empires, but a pacifist/xenophile AI empire is highly likely to select positive actions during our first contact. Alternatively, create a game with a buddy in multiplayer and initiate the best possible first contact. You'll earn the achievement once the first contact event reaches its conclusion.

Vivisect an alien. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: The option to vivisect aliens requires the Aggressive First Contact Protocol policy, which is not available to all ethics. Capturing an alien ship is only available between regular empires. You are not guaranteed to catch the alien ships, so this may require multiple attempts (save your game often). If you successfully catch some aliens, you'll be granted the achievement and make the other empire hate your guts ━ heh, get it?

Start a full-fledged first contact war before communications have been fully established. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: The objective is to destroy 10 ships or conquer a planet of an empire you have not established contact with. During this endeavor, you have to select the Aggressive[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] communication stance to target other empire's ships. Once you complete those requirements and establish contact with the target empire, you'll get the achievement. The RNG part about this achievement is finding the aliens and also taking down ships instead of these ships retreating with an emergency subspace jump. If the target empire does not have enough ships, aim for the planet and conquer it.

Destroy the Galaxy. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Use a tiny Galaxy whenever possible.

Recommendation: Win the game as a Galactic Nemesis[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] by fully upgrading the Aetherophasic Engine[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. If the Apocalypse DLC is enabled, Menace can instead be gained by destroying worlds with a World Cracker. It should be noted that only upon reaching the fifth crisis level is the empire treated as any other crisis (Total War with every other empire). This means that through levels 1–4, the "crisis" empire acts as normal, save for not being able to become the Custodian. Only level 5 crisis is the "point of no return", gated by the Special Project to level up. Reaching level 5 is important for the last Aetherophasic Engine upgrade and consequently to win the game, which unlocks the achievement.
Galaxy destroyed by the Aetherophasic Engine. Source: Myself

Have a network of at least 30 Hyper Relays, in systems you own, connected to your capital. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll naturally earn this achievement in any game that goes past midgame; the hint is also self-explanatory, similarly to building railroads in a Civilization game; after unlocking the required technology, just create thirty hyper relays connected to one another, which you can simply queue up by right-clicking a system inside your territory with a construction ship. Alternatively, you may conquer other empire's systems that are also connected to a Hyper Relay[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] network.

Catapult a military fleet directly into the capital system of an enemy empire you are at war with. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Remember that there is synergy with achievement "134 ━ Into the Unknown". This achievement is all about using a Quantum Trebuchet[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. The easiest way is to split 100 corvettes in single ships and then throw them all, so at least one, which counts as fleet by itself, reaches the capital system that you need.
Source: Myself. Source: Vanilla events.

Have a Fortress World with a Planetary Defense Shield, protected by a fully upgraded orbital ring, filled with defensive modules, with a fleet power of at least 10,000. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add More Orbital Slots to your mod list; or
  
• Add Starbases Extended to your mod list; or
  
• Add NSC3 to your mod list.

Recommendation: Needs a fully upgraded capital building on planet and set the planet designation to Fortress World[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com], have an orbital ring tier 3 around the planet filled with 4 planetary defense modules (guns, missiles, hangars). If needed build some defense platforms on the orbital ring to get the planetary defenses to 10k power and earn the achievement. Remember that any orbital ring tier upgrade costs influence, plan accordingly.

Have a tier 3 subject of each Specialist type simultaneously. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Add AIs if you prefer vassalizing by conquest instead of releasing sectors.
  
• The Technology Diffusion mod can greatly help by keeping AIs tech somewhat competitive.

Recommendation: By following achievement "009 ━ Battle Thralls" you already know you can release vassals in different specializations. You could take over other empires but releasing sector vassals (from the Empire Sectors screen) is the best way to go about it. When releasing vassals you don't have to worry about technological difference, which means you can ALWAYS specialize[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] them into Scholarium, Bulwark and Prospectorium vassals respectively.

This time around however, you also have to wait for all three of them to reach max specialization level (level 3). Thus, try to release SMALLER sector vassals since the initial level 1 specialization time is based on how big the released vassal is; for the next two levels it is based on loyalty instead, which means keeping them loyal should be your biggest priority for this achievement.

Modify a vassalization contract. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Release a sector as a vassal then modify its contract by paying extra influence.

Be the patron of three maximum sized Mercenary Enclaves. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: At the beginning of the game, you get one Mercenary Enclave capacity. If you don't have enough Mercenary Enclave capacity, you can build them within sectors; you may later release these sectors as subjects and then integrate the subjects or simply release and conquer them afterwards. You may use the following strategies to get more mercenary enclaves:

• Use the Warrior Culture[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] civic.
  
• Use the Naval Contractors[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] civic.
  
• Use the Tactical Algorithms[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] civic.
  
• Use the Barbaric Despoilers[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] civic.
  
• Pick the Lord of War[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Ascension Perk.
  
• Use the Private Military Companies[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] civic.
  
• Vote for Defense Privatization[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] resolutions.

As you can see, you have to upgrade your mercs 5 times. Source: PDX snippet.

All that matters is upgrading your enclaves with the "We want to help you build a bigger fleet" option (sharing technology is completely optional). The option to support bigger mercenary fleets has to be picked at least five times for each of the three enclaves and is only allowed once per year. Alternatively, you may wait for other empires to create mercenary enclaves, because the AI likes to create mercs under the right conditions. Then, you may claim and conquer those systems to become the controller of an enclave within that territory.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. (Scrap an organic fleet to the salvager enclave) Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Finding the Salvager[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] enclave is the only challenging part about this achievement. Once you find them, you'll need to salvage a fauna ship in order to get the achievement. Even though most empires are able to build fauna ships with the Domestication[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] tradition, the most efficient way is starting out with a fauna fleet, which is possible with one of the following civics:

• Cordyceptic Drones[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]
  
• Space Ranchers[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]
  
• Beastmasters[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]
  
• Wild Swarm[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]
  
• Biodrones[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]

Source: Vanilla events.

Same as the old boss. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: You'll earn this achievement if you pledge secret fealty to another empire and have them win an Allegiance War. If the Shadows of the Shroud DLC is installed you can ensure, via a proxy war (Subterfuge[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] Tradition Tree), that the empire declares a war using the correct war goal. Source: Vanilla events.

Alternatively, you may use the multiplayer trick to swap to any vassal in the galaxy, force them to accept the secret fealty, then switch back to your empire to declare war on their overlord, and lastly (very important) switch back to the prospective vassal moments before winning the war.

As a Subterranean empire, dig too deep, but prove yourself worthy. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Increase habitable planets to x1.75 or above (Reduces RNG Rating by 1).
  
• Do not add mods that may add anomalies, the Unexpected Mineral Seams event needs a clear recently colonized planet.

Recommendation: Similar to the Zroni, the Unexpected Mineral Seams[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] event spawns only on habitable planets, the difference lies in that you'll only trigger it after colonizing the planet (you have to be the original owner). The planet itself MUST NOT have any poor, high or exceptional quality minerals (planetary modifier). There is a 30 months MTTH (Mean Time To Happen), which means the event may trigger right away or within 2.5 in-game years.

Taking all that in consideration, your empire must also have the Subterranean[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin, since only subterranean empires are able to dig further than any other civilizations. You'll earn the achievement after destroying the crystal entity in ground combat near the end of the event chain. Keep in mind that having a fleet bombard it from orbit does not award the achievement but it can be used to weaken it.

Source: Vanilla events.

Obtaining this was quite fun with WP Army Attachments to enhance my dwarven empire with jetpacks, stim packs and psionic enhancements. Plus, Expanded Stellaris Traditions which granted me titans (from the Mechanicum tradition) to tank some hits.

The Crystal Kraken never had a chance. Source: My dwarven playthrough.

As a Slingshot to the Stars empire, send 10 crewed science ships into the unknown with Quantum Catapults. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: Remember that there is synergy with achievement "126 ━ Yeet the Fleet". This achievement is all about using a Quantum Catapult Trebuchet[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Start with the Slingshot to the Stars[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin and avoid exploring until you can repair the Quantum Catapult. Then catapult crewed science ships into unsurveyed regions. Avoid catapulting near explored systems as the Quantum Catapults may send them there instead. The easiest option is to build ten science ships and re-assign a single scientist before each launch. Alternatively, you may also send a single ship and keep returning to the catapult. Source: Vanilla events.

As a Teachers of the Shroud empire, prove that the Shroudwalkers made a terrible mistake. Optimal Settings:

• Default

Recommendation: While playing with the Teachers of the Shroud[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] origin, destroy the Shroudwalker enclave you start the game in contact with. Easily done with ~15k fleet power. Note that there is a time limit, because the Shroudwalkers will leave the galaxy once the endgame crisis appears.

As an Idyllic Bloom empire, convert the junk worlds of the Ketling Star Pack into Gaia Worlds. Optimal Settings:

• Default
  
• Bigger galaxies increase Ketling's planets spawn chance.
  
• Do not use the Planetary Diversity mod for this achievement.
  
• Do not use the Ratling (mam_rat) portrait since that would restrict all spawn chances.

Recommendation: You'll need an empire with either the Mycorrhizal Ideal[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] or Idyllic Bloom[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] civics. Then, it would be a matter of finding the required planets, colonize them and ultimately turn them into Gaia planets with your Gaia Seeders[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com]. Do not miss any Ketling[stellaris.paradoxwikis.com] planet!

List of all required Ketling's planets:
• Ruinous Core.
  
• Lost Encampment.
  
• Silent Colony.
  
• Decayed Hub.
  
• Crumbling Borough.
  
• Fallen Outpost.